Wise, or just smart?

Watching my daughter parent her two little ones during their visit in our home has been a delight. Maribel is focusing on teaching Devin and Adelina about character. It’s the little things she does – like reminding them to be thankful, causing them to understand the importance of respect, encouraging them to take care of themselves and their surroundings. She is laying the foundation of life for them by training them in something one author calls “intellectual virtue.” Michael Austin (Wise Stewards) says that intellectual virtue is an excellence of the mind that “enables a person to reason well for the purpose of living well.” (CT, January, 2010)

I believe that a major failure of American parents is that they seek to make their children smart by providing them the best education while ignoring the virtues that are the basis of true wisdom which governs the way of life. The emphasis is too often placed on what our children are able to do rather than on who they are equipped to become. Bereft of the ability to understand the real meaning of their existence because they are trained to think Scripturally, with God and His will as the roadmap for life, they chase after fulfillment in job titles, beauty, fame, celebrity, or materialism. In truth, genuine joy in life is much less related to what a person owns or his place in this world than it is in who he is on the inside. Even that cannot be accomplished simply by stuffing a little head with Bible verses! He must be turned toward the Son, his mind opened to the Spirit, from Whom he will receive Light and Life.

Moses directed the people of the Lord to parent with a view to more than future salary or success. “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders." (Deuteronomy 6:4-8, NLT) Let me summarize that passage – “Love the Lord and integrate that love into your everyday life!”

If you’re a parent, I encourage you to make ‘intellectual virtue’ a primary goal. And that’s not just for kids, either!

Let me ask you, disciple: Are you just smart or are you truly wise? Are you simply equipped with facts but lacking the wisdom to make choices that produce the best long-term results, the highest joys, and ultimately will allow you to receive the Lord’s commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”? Be you 4, 40, or 84 – it’s never too late to turn your heart and mind to obedience to the Lord. As you kneel at the Cross, there is salvation, transformation, and restoration to full destiny available in Christ’s great grace.

Here’s a word from the Word. Meditate on the truth of it.

"I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.
I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt." (Psalm 119:10-11, The Message)

"By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path." (Psalm 119:105, The Message)

_____________

Be Thou my Vision,
O Lord of my heart;
Nought be all else to me,
Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought,
By day or by night,
Waking or sleeping,
Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom,
And Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee
And Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father,
I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling,
And I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not,
Nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance,
Now and always:
Thou and Thou only,
First in my heart,
High King of heaven,
My Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven,
My victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys,
O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart,
Whatever befall,
Still be my Vision,
O Ruler of all.

Be Thou My Vision
Hull, Eleanor / Byrne, Mary E.

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