True Wisdom
“While claiming to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for the likeness of an image of mortal man
or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.”Romans 1:22-23
What really happened at the Garden of Eden? Did sin and death enter into the world simply because of a fruit? No fruit could have forced Adam and Eve to disobey God and sin. The fruit, whatever it may be, is good because God created it be pleasing to look at and satisfying to consume. The fruit did not cause sin and death. So, sin and death did not enter into the world merely because a fruit was eaten, instead because the heart of Adam and Eve turned away. The serpent told Eve that if she ate of the fruit of that tree her eyes would be open and that she would be like God, and that God did not want that. Well, we know that is a lie. God fashioned human beings in His image and likeness, so of course they are like God, but the serpent tempted them and projected a lie onto God, and sadly human believed that lie.
St. Paul tells us that some of the people, “while claiming to be wise” they instead became fools. They are fools because and “wisdom” outside of God is not real. All wisdom is found in God. Hence to be apart from God does not make one wise, but rather foolish. Why would anyone want to seek life in a place of death or seek knowledge in a realm that lacks truth? Yet, we find ourselves doing just that.
Brothers and sisters, we can never do it alone. We can not expect us to put our ambitions and ego first and expect to receive the blessings of God — not because God doesn’t give them to us, but because when we put anything else before God we have chosen to reject God’s grace and blessings. To be wise then is to be open to God. To be wise is to seek the Lord. To be wise then is to bear witness to God’s love and mercy. Let us today seek wisdom and truth in the One who is Wisdom and Truth and Life — God, who has become man for us so that we might have life.
