May 30

Wise Up!

A few years ago I went through my VW phase of life. I went out and bought a 1978 VW convertible. Several things were wrong with it including the passenger side rear view mirror was broken. So I ordered a new mirror and began the simple process of changing it. I worked for hours trying to get that thing off. Patience is not one of my stronger character qualities and in the end I had broken both the base to the window and the molding and still the window was attached to the car.

This point I was faced with a major life crisis. Would I humble myself and ask my friend BILL (an expert at VW’s) or would I spend another 2 hours trying to do it myself. All I had to do is say... "Bill, I need your wisdom." Yet if I did this I would be admitting I was inadequate and needed help. The male ego is a very fragile thing and this became a tough choice.

In the end I made one of the wisest choices in life. I decided to humble myself and ask Bill for his wisdom. Bill came over and in 60 seconds he had the thing off. The problem was it was a reverse screw thread. After I spent 45 years of my life figuring out how threads work, along comes some crazy guy in Germany who decides to change the rules on me.

Well, all of us face similar life choices daily. We think we can run our lives pretty well. We do a good job for a while but one day the wheels come off. At this point we are faced with a dilemma. Will we continue to try to run our lives or will we turn to God for help. But the stakes are much higher when it comes to life. At risk is our eternal soul and the lives of many people around us.

Today there are a lot of voices you can turn to. We have Dr. Phil, Oprah, Tyra Banks, Howard Stern, Jerry Springer and the latest self help book but usually the voice we listen to in the end is our own. Most of us really believe we know best how to fix our lives.

Ecc 7:27-29 tells us the wise person goes to God for wisdom. We don't have enough wisdom or experience to know how to live. Our creator is the one who has the blueprints for how life works. So the plan is clear for today. Read God’s Word and put into practice everything he tells us. He can show us how to wise up.