I like to think of wisdom as applied
reality: taking one’s knowledge of the actual nature of things and working that
knowledge through in a very practical way in the circumstances of life.
That sort of discernment is pictured for us
metaphorically in scripture. It is not that the Lord Jesus came so that men and
women might pay lip service to a particular series of moral data points, but that we might
make use of those facts to act in our own best interests, in the best interests
of others, and ultimately and most importantly, in accordance with the will of God.
The metaphor the Lord uses to describe
applied reality is light: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me
will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Being able to
see where we are going is exceedingly practical, and has tremendous value.
The Lamp of the Body
In his Sermon on the Mount, the Lord again
takes up the light metaphor, and it means what it usually means, I think:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Here, I think, Jesus is saying considerably
more than “Blind people have hard lives.” While that is certainly true, even a
child grasps that the eye signifies discernment.
Natural and Derived
But we should probably distinguish between
natural light and derived light. It is the latter image the Lord is using in
the Sermon. Natural light occurs when it occurs, usually from dawn to dusk. We
have zero control over it. Derived light is something we choose, and it is the
image of the lychnos, meaning candle
or lantern, that Jesus selected to illustrate wisdom.
Candles and lanterns are derived light.
They themselves must be lit by fire from other sources. Likewise, spiritual
illumination comes from revelation. Peter talks about confirmed prophecy as a “light that shines in a dark place”, and the Lord Jesus described John the Baptist as a “burning and shining light”.
That’s important. Spiritual perception is
healthy when it is informed by other healthy sources. Wisdom is derived, not
intrinsic to us. Mankind does not figure things out on its own through some
process of intellectual evolution, no matter how many millennia may pass. We
need the light of God’s revelation to kindle our own spiritual perceptions. We
cannot get to the right place morally through our own intellectual processes: “The wisdom of this world is folly with God.”
Failing to Represent Reality
This is one reason progressivism fails as a
philosophy: it does not accurately represent reality. It contradicts history,
which provides us with ample evidence of man’s failure to apply his knowledge
of reality consistently across time. For several generations, people may act
wisely and in their best interests. Then, discontented by sin, they explore
ways to make their lot more desirable, and almost inevitably end up making it far
worse. This is why we have things like Dark Ages, Communism and Great Leaps
Backward. When the eye is unhealthy, the body suffers, including the body
politic.
Thus, on a corporate level, the perceptiveness of leadership determines the consequences for the entire group. Where the leaders are blind, incoherent or self-contradicting, the conduct of the group cannot help but suffer. They are getting no clear direction.
At the individual level too, a clear view of
the world has physical consequences. It is not merely theoretical. When you see
clearly about the spiritual realities of life, you behave in a way that is good
for your body. When you don’t, you don’t.
This truth is easily demonstrated
medically, which is why depressed people are often physically sick as well. A
warped view of the world cannot help but damage the way you function in it.
Angry people and worried people stress their bodies. People who tell lies
stress their bodies. People who behave sexually as if they are animals rather
than made in the image of God stress their bodies and find them failing in
their operation.
In Harmony with the Truth
But I am speaking generally. To grasp what
I think the Lord is saying here, we must go back a few verses. Jesus has been
speaking about laying up treasures in heaven rather than on earth; about
putting God’s priorities ahead of our own. That’s absolutely counterintuitive,
isn’t it. Our natural minds rebel against that sort of priority-setting. After
all, we have no evidence in this life that it is working. We cannot visit a
heavenly “treasury” or weigh and measure our heavenly treasure. Its existence must
be taken on faith.
And yet if the spiritual world is the world
with genuine substance, and if our earthly lives are merely a blink of an eye
or a passing shadow, what could be more in harmony with reality than laying up
treasure in heaven?
Thus it is the healthy eye of spiritual
discernment that sees this truth clearly. The glory of God and his way of being
are the highest possible goals to shoot for. Seeking them serves to illuminate
the believer’s entire being. It provides direction that leads to an ordered,
functional, harmonious life.
On the other hand, the person who receives
that truth and rejects it is in a very bad spot. The person with the “bad eye”
processes revelation and glimpses heavenly priorities but does not respond to
them. The truth is not worked out in their life, and the result is not just
darkness, but the greatest darkness of all. I mean, if the conclusion of your
contemplation of revelation is rejection, where exactly do you go next for
illumination, and how can you ever correctly order your life?
This is the dilemma of the religious person
who rejects the knowledge of Christ.
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