.: educated fools, we are :.

The topic of last night’s deepest conversation (between Mac – my roommate – and I) was the nature of our responsibility before God for what we have received with regards to seminary education. It began with our wrestling with what we are to do with the uneducated man in the middle of nowhere, who knows nothing of exposition, knows nothing of biblical exegesis, knows nothing of right translations and Greek paradigms and systematic theology… and yet has a simple love for Christ as his Savior and Lord. Our ultimate conclusion was that it was a matter of stewardship before God with what we have been given – the man with his simple love for Christ, who chose to not go beyond the simplicity of “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” (not to imply that such makes him my lesser on any regard before God’s grace)… and my relationship with God, which includes both simple faith (I pray I might never truly grow beyond that!) and graduate level training for the ministry (providing richer knowledge, which brings with it greater responsibility). If push came to shove, the two dominant images of the New Testament for exemplary faith (if I can call it that) are a “child” and a “fool”. When Christ illustrates for His followers and on-lookers who is the greatest in terms of the Kingdom of Heaven, He highlights not a teacher of the law (the modern day pastor or priest) but an innocent, unsophisticated, often naïve child (Matthew 18:1-5). And in 1 Corinthians, as Paul is working through how our wisdom plays a part of our faith in God, he calls our trust in God foolishness in the eyes of the world (1 Corinthians 3:19, 4:10). He doesn’t parade how our faith is the thing that “makes the most sense”, or is the most provable (both being claims that we hear nowadays), but he calls it plain foolishness in the context of the various ideologies of this world that so many lost souls are holding onto. Wanna become a Christian? Become like a simple child…and be willing to be seen as a fool. Christ even prays at one point the reality, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25). But beyond all this, it blows my mind to live in the reality that God is walking on different paths with various believers, all the way from British Columbia to Kenya to Ireland to islands and habitats yet to be discovered. Which in turn means that my own faith is not the standard by which my fellow brothers and sisters are measured, for the simple fact that our divine relationships are on a personal level in which God is working in different ways. So who is to say where one ought to be outside of overall growth (no matter at what rate, for this too is a personal issue)? These issues boil down to one element: that of simple faith in God to provide salvation on our behalf through the work of Christ – apart from any of my own works. Nothing I will ever receive with regards to a theological education will do anything less than foster greater responsibility before God for what I have done with what I have been given (ex. “The Parable of the Buried Talents”, Matthew 25:14-30). So be it… we shall become like children, we shall be seen as fools…and in such, we shall honor Christ for our faith will stand upon His work rather than our own.