pursuit of wisdom

wisdom and intellect. in 1 kings 3, solomon asks for wisdom, above wealth or long life or fame.
v5 "...and God said, 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you.'"
solomon replied v9 "...give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
v11-12 ...God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
1 kings 4:29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore

wisdom and intellect. alot of people say im smart, i dont think i am. my vocabulary is poverty, my perception of things are skewed. i get confused when people talk with big words and cheem theology (which really, i feel is unnecessary sometimes). the only thing i'm relatively good at is some academics. math, physics. anyway, it comes around to this, that school doesnt teach wisdom. what is wisdom compared to intellect! intellect gets you places, wisdom gets you peace. i havent found out what wisdom really means, but i am challenged to. my next step in God is to grow to be a bit wiser.

intellectual pride is not wise, it is a barrier to faith, it is a barrier to many things we should be open to. to a certain degree, intellectual pride is in all of us. i believe that everything has a simple truth, money matters, its all in God's hand. several people have been prompted by God to give all their money away and to live by faith that God will provide daily, and they did.

someone said that to give all your money in the faith that God would support you is only if you live alone, because the dynamics of finance changes when you have kids, a wife, a family. that is a faithless statement, that is a worldly-wisdom-tainted statement; if God calls you to give up your entire savings, then give it up, because he will support you day by day. the fact that you have children and a family does not change the fact that God will support you. in fact, God will give you more because you have this family to keep.

lets all come back to simple truth. everything in the bible is. it just IS. when it says turn the other cheek, its not 'turn the other cheek, so long as you're not being taken advantage of and being stepped on', noooo thats worldly wisdom. its not 'turn the other cheek then talk to the one who slapped you and convince him he's guilty', noooo thats worldly wisdom. 'turn the other cheek'.

how have you added your own words to the bible?

the passing of steve irwin

steve irwin (croc hunter)'s death was quite shocking and unexpected. but nonetheless i see in that, the frailty of life; how swiftly death'll come when you least expect it. steve irwin didnt even have any last words! i guess partly cos he was underwater. what if you die today? do you know where you'll be going? heaven or hell? even if religion never pricked your heart before, it ought to when you wonder about what happens after you die. ahhhh eternal destiny.

and the second question is this. steve irwin died doing what he loved, i think it would've been terrible for him to become old and unable to run around and interact with wildlife (maybe he coulda taken care of his kids, another buncha monkeys :P) but still, he died what he loved doing. susanto (my classmate) ever asked me why missionaries would risk their lives going into china, to spread the gospel even though they know they'll probably be killed for it. the response to that is that 'they've found something worth dying for, that is Jesus and his message', and i think that is something important, that we dont start living until we've found something to die for, something worth dying for. for me, only Christ is worth that. what're you living for?