This is Felicia Ferguson with Christian Mix 106, helping you build faith for the journey.
Several years ago, Jeff Foxworthy hosted a TV game show called “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Adult contestants would be matched with a fifth-grade classmate to assist them with the answers if requested. They would be given typical first through fifth-grade curriculum questions. Across the four seasons of the original show, only two adults actually won the $1 million dollar prize and were deemed smarter than a fifth grader. One was the Georgia State School Superintendent and the other, a university professor and Nobel Prize winner in Physics.
As with this and other game shows, and really, life general, human knowledge and wisdom is celebrated and rewarded. But did you know kingdom principles operate just the opposite? In fact, the apostle Paul says we are to become foolish first in human standards so that we can become wise in kingdom ones. Releasing our human wisdom, our pride in our intellect, is the first step in humility. And in humility, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and those who teach God’s word and learn the real Truth.
This doesn’t mean we should drop out of school or not pursue higher degrees or continue learning and honing our skills in our work. It means we shouldn’t rely on that knowledge and wisdom above the knowledge and wisdom of God. The world would say we are foolish to believe in a God who can’t be seen. But as believers we know that a relationship with that unseen, but all powerful, and ever present God is where the greatest wisdom and knowledge is found.
And with it, we will all be smarter than a fifth-grader.
This is Felicia Ferguson. Thanks for listening to Christian Mix 106.