A Steady Diet of Wisdom in a Senseless World
Director of Spiritual Life: Brandt Akin
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Brett McCracken, a pastor, author, and senior editor for The Gospel Coalition, wrote an article in 2017 comparing the food pyramid and its recipe for a healthy diet to the intake of wisdom as a recipe for a healthy Christian life. I think if the past 11 months have revealed anything to us as followers of Jesus, McCracken was on to something, and wisdom really is essential for our lives. McCracken organized the sources people go to for wisdom and insight into a pyramid reflecting our major needs as followers of Christ.
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The graphic looks something like this: |
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Like the food pyramid, the levels toward the bottom of the pyramid are the primary sources of "nutrition." A healthy diet of wisdom is one that starts from the bottom and moves toward the top without skipping levels along the way. For gaining wisdom, there is no better source than God's Word itself. I think of the words of Peter in John 6:68, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life..." Our first and most frequent source for truth and wisdom should always be God Himself.
And then there is wisdom found in the Church. Hebrews calls us to not forsake meeting together because it is this meeting together that helps us live out our faith through love and good deeds. One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture on the Church is Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." The "you" in this passage is a corporate, not individual, usage as Paul explains what it looks like to be the Church and to live in community as followers of Jesus. One of his primary points is that all of our church activity, which is done together and not alone, leads us toward wisdom in Christ.
These two levels make up the bottom part of the pyramid meaning they ought to have priority in our lives and be the bulk of our wisdom diet. The other levels are like desserts and sweets, they are rarely helpful but can (and in my opinion absolutely SHOULD) be enjoyed when the rest of your diet is healthy. They are not bad per se but are unable to sustain a healthy diet and a healthy life.
If his assessment is correct, and I certainly think it is, it reveals that our approach to wisdom as a society is largely upside down. We are often in a cycle that begins at the top with social media. When we want to understand what is going on in the world around us, social media is our go-to source. When we are a little distrusting of what we find, we turn to the internet through google searches and news sites. Sooner or later, all of this stresses us out, and we have to take a break from technology and all its anxiety, so we unplug, get out of town, and go off the grid for a weekend before we return back to the same cycle. In all of this, our culture has been taking an upside-down approach to wisdom and in the process, never reaches the true sources of wisdom that God Himself has prescribed. The COVID-19 pandemic has only furthered this unhealthy cycle. We’re more upside down in our approach to wisdom than ever before. As a whole, we are biblically uninformed and unchurched.
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Church has taken a major shift since this time last year, and understandably so. Many churches closed their physical doors for a time, and some are still physically closed and meeting online. Needless to say, church-going has become complicated or even non-existent for many, but it is still a necessary part of pursuing wisdom and following Jesus and one that we need to figure out how to navigate even if a few precautions or changes are required. The Barna Group and American Bible Society (ABS) released a report called the State of the Bible 2020 that revealed the number of Americans who read their Bible daily had dropped by 13 million people during the first 5 months of the pandemic after remaining somewhat steady for the 5 years prior. Even if the pandemic afforded us more time, the more we distanced, the more likely we were to stop reading our Bibles daily. The two primary sources of wisdom that should make up the majority of a person's spiritual diet have gone largely unfed over the last 11 months, and one of the people groups affected most by this trend is students.
It's easy to look at the data and think that all is lost, that the culture may be beyond repair, or that maybe we've lost the next generation. But all is not lost. In fact, it never is because what God has done for us in Jesus can never be undone, and God's promise to rescue and redeem always wins out. I want to encourage you to help your students pursue wisdom in the world in which we live and in the process, learn to enjoy their relationships with Jesus. God has plans for their lives, and He desires to accomplish them through a pursuit of wisdom. I would like to encourage and challenge all our families to do a few things for your family and for your students in particular:
Commit to reading the Bible together.
Make a plan and stick to it. Pick a time that works for your family and a reading plan that will give your family a good understanding of what God has to say in His Word. If you need help knowing where to start, this is a great plan!
Commit to getting back to church.
I know that church is complicated right now for many people, so do the most you can and the most you feel comfortable with. If it’s online church, then it’s online church, but remain consistent. One of the drawbacks to online church is the lack of community with fellow believers, but it is still a source of wisdom and a sense of connection to God’s people!
Enjoy the pursuit of wisdom.
A healthy physical diet leads to a healthy and enjoyable life. A healthy spiritual diet leads to a healthy Christian life and one that is enjoyed. When we struggle to enjoy our Christian life, it is usually because our spiritual diet is unhealthy - not because following Jesus is unfulfilling. The prescription for enjoying our lives in Christ is a steady diet of wisdom, and I want to encourage you to enjoy that as a family. Celebrate spending time in the Word and being involved in a local church; you were meant to enjoy it!
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