It is one of the most iconic questions in the history of advertising.
It operated on a simple premise — EVERYONE needs milk. And so for some 20 years we saw those weird white milk mustaches we all get when drinking milk on a mind-boggling range of “people.” I had to put that last word in quotes. Sure Beyonce was featured with her milk moustache, as was Harrison Ford, Kate Moss, Billy Ray Cyrus and Angelina Jolie. And, of course, superheroes like Batman and Superman had their milk moustaches, too. (I mean, nothing calls for a glass of vitamin enriched natural goodness like fighting crime all day, right?) But we also got treated to the white lip lines on Mario, Garfield, the Rugrats and Kermit the Frog. Yeah – EVERYONE needs milk!
Do you know what ELSE everyone needs ????? WISDOM ! And not just any old “wisdom” will do here.
The conventional wisdom of any given period of time can appear sound and safe. Appearances can be deceiving; even deadly. In 1779, when George Washington became ill after a horseback ride in the cold December rains of Mount Vernon, his doctors operated under the best conventional wisdom of the day to help him recuperate. That “wisdom” thought that several illnesses could be effectively treated by blood letting. So, after draining twelve to fourteen ounces of blood from his arm didn’t produce the desired effect, the doctors directed the neighborhood bleeder to continue one bleed after another, interspersed with things like calomel and emetic tartar (which we now know to be poisons). All in all, almost forty percent of Washington’s blood was drained from his arm in order to help his breathing. It didn’t , of course; it actually killed him.
Sometimes what we perceive as wisdom is clouded by the emotions of the moment. Many an illegitimate child has been conceived from the “wisdom” of yielding to lust that is perceived as committed love; when the wisdom of history has shown us time and again that the common outcome of pre-marital sex is a either a single-parent family that struggles for decades to recover or the murder of the innocent child.
Sometimes what we perceive as wisdom is clouded by our own personal inexperience or immaturity. When my sons were young, they thought that Underoos, underwear featuring superheroes and comic characters, were the thing that would bring them happiness in life. It was all that mattered. Time has changed that perception.
Today there are loud and determined voices calling good evil and evil good. Whether they are merely deceived or determined to destroy us makes no difference. The good intentions of Washington’s physicians were not at issue. Intentions don’t create outcomes if the underlying assumptions are faulty. It is not the road to success that is paved with good intentions. Not hardly.
Today’s verse tells us where we can find TRUE WISDOM. Tried, proven and trustworthy wisdom.
IF YOU NEED WISDOM, ASK OUR GENEROUS GOD, AND HE WILL GIVE IT TO YOU.
Let’s begin at the beginning. You DO need true wisdom. You absolutely do !!!! Don’t let today’s conventional wisdom drain your life from you, even with the best of intentions. Don’t be lured down the wrong path by unbridled emotions, personal inexperience or immaturity. Relying on these is a gamble at best; and the thing being gambles is YOU!
It’s like the story of the student who didn’t study for an exam because he knew the professor only gave true-or-false tests. So, with his hundred question true-or-false examination in front of him, he took out a coin and began to flip it repeatedly. Heads for true, tails for false. Needless to say, the professor was less than impressed. When the lad finished his examination and continued flipping the coin, the teacher couldn’t contain himself any longer. “Excuse me,” he demanded, “but just what do you think you’re doing now?” The student replied, “I’m just double-checking my answers.”
That is NOT the kind of “wisdom” that can be relied upon. With truth subject to change, bleeding the very life from your veins.
God gives true-or-false exams. Except that He provides the answer key to the final. In His word, He gives us true wisdom. He tells us what is true, what is right, what is evil and what is wrong. He spells it out for us, gives us multiple illustrations from the lives of those who listened to Him and those who did not. He is clear and straightforward.
The world will shout loudly and try to get you to follow its “wisdom.” God is wrong. God is dead. God hates you.
These are lies, plain and simple. God loves you, and has demonstrated HIs love by sending Jesus to pay the price for your sin. When you accept that gift He calls you to follow Him and demonstrate the fruit of a changed life. Love shows in the way you live.
God gives true-or-false exams. There’s one question on His upcoming final exam, and it is a test that every person alive will take. Here it is:
TRUE or FALSE – “I have confessed with my own mouth that Jesus is my Lord, and truly believe in my heart that He rose from the dead.”
Got Jesus ???
IF YOU NEED WISDOM, ASK OUR GENEROUS GOD, AND HE WILL GIVE IT TO YOU.
