As I look at my bookshelf . . . for the new generation, a bookshelf, usually made out of wood, a device to hold rectangular pieces of paper with words on them that are glued together called books . . . I see a lot of black and yellow. I see, "Windows Vista for Dummies." I see, "Microsoft Office 2007 for Dummies," even, "Aquariums for Dummies." What does that tell you about my character? You're right. I am a dummy and proud of it!
If you were looking to hire someone, would you hire the person who thought they knew it all or the person who was teachable? If you were smart, you'd hire the teachable one. I once knew someone who would always say, "I can do it, I can do it." Then once you gave them the task, they'd say, "How do you do it?" Let's face it; we're all put here to learn. Some get it and some never do. Sometimes I wonder about man with all our intelligence. We can send a satellite on a nine year journey to fly by Pluto and take pictures but can't find a way to keep a car safe if an infant is left in it by mistake. Doesn't make sense, does it?
One of my wife's favorite sayings is, "You can't approach God on an intellectual level." She's right. It just doesn't work. When Yeshua walked among us, he, for the most part, didn't call the wealthy or the educated. He called dummies. He called rowdy fisherman, crooked tax collectors, unlearned folk, people despised by most. Now, don't get offended if you're one of these. Following Yeshua made them smart. Following Yeshua makes us smart, regardless of occupation.
My father, who flew Corsairs for the Marine Corps in WWII and later flew commercially for 27 years, was a pilot's pilot. He once told me, "You'll never learn everything there is to know about flying." He was always teachable. That kept him alive. The same applies for us on a spiritual level. We won't know it all until we cross that threshold where mortal takes on immortality. Then we'll still keep learning from new moon to new moon, from feast to feast, and from Shabbat to Shabbat.
God's biggest battle with man has always been that of intellect. In the garden, the wicked one's lure was that of knowing more, being smarter. "But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."' (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV) We're all paying a huge price for the mistake they both made. It's still going on today, Tower of Babel's being erected, not in the natural sense, but man trying to be like God, ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
Am I against education? Absolutely not. Am I against learning? Absolutely not. The key is, we need to make sure our wisdom comes from above and not the wisdom of the world. So I say, "Dummies of the world unite!" Our work is cut out for us. Hooray for black and yellow books who help us to save our fish, fix our houses, type on keyboards. But hooray even more for The Book that shows us how to live though the Torah, to see like the Prophets, and to love like Yeshua. Solomon summed it all up in Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV. "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Until next time, Shalom.
Picture originally found here
