Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ADAGE (10/05/23)
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TITLE: We may be Wise – or Otherwise… | Previous Challenge Entry
By Noel Mitaxa
10/12/23 -
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But the information age is no recent arrival, as it first surfaced in ancient Greece, as philosophers discussed, debated, and argued their ideas, and recruited disciples from among their hearers. They were desperate to find the ultimate reason – the divine Logos – that could encapsulate the reason behind our existence.
Until then, knowledge was less academic, and more related to everyday life in towns, villages, farms, and families; so it carried a sense of earthed responsibility instead of gathering as collected ideas from more stratospheric levels of thinking.
In short, it was information that became wisdom – knowledge that was distilled by personal or shared experience, observations, or reflections.
While ancient philosophies still shape our academic world, wisdom is where the rubber hits the road in the glory of our daily grind, through proverbs or adages that make it easier for us to grasp their meaning.
An adage contains the experience or the wisdom of many – compressed by the wit of one – and usually in one or two short sentences to make it easier to reflect on, to remember, and to follow.
In a couple of examples: “a stitch in time saves nine” is a warning about the expense of neglecting maintenance; and “the pen is mightier than the sword” reminds us that battles are brief, hotheaded affairs, compared to writing that invites us to think more carefully about the challenges we face.
Central to the Bible is a whole book of adages, or Proverbs, with thirty-one chapters. One of its best known is in chapter 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
The late, great evangelist Billy Graham’s daily devotions included five psalms and one chapter of proverbs: the psalms to keep him in touch with God, and the proverbs to help him keep in touch with people. And following this discipline will enable us to read through the Psalms and the Proverbs every month.
Adages or proverbs are gifts of God’s wisdom for us, and we may never anticipate when or how he will release them.
One of my favorites has never become famous, but it summarized much of my four years of theological training and came from a teenager I’d baptized just a couple of days earlier.
Facing the ridicule of friends who had heard of his newfound faith, he told them, “I’d rather be a Christian than a no-hoper!”
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