Empty headed thinking

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” – 1 Corinthians 3.18-20

Solomon is considered the wisest man who ever lived. He was wise enough to learn from experience. in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon recounts his search for the meaning of life. He wanted to find out what it as all about. So he tried everything to see if it had meaning. When he was done he came to a conclusion that all of the stuff he tried was vanity, or empty, or futile, or empty headed thinking.  

Paul comes to the same conclusion here. All of the thinking of the wise of this world is vain, or empty, or futile. All the stuff that tries to draw us in is at going to produce nothing in the end. So Paul tells us not to let ourselves be deceived by it. There are plenty of worldly philosophies out there. They all have the promise of something better. Sometimes Christians can get caught up in the world's philosophies. One of the biggest deceptions that I see among Christians is that if we can just get the politics of our various nations sorted out all will be okay. Then some folks spend all their time trying to get that sorted.

It is for this reason that our focus should not be all this empty headed thinking. It is like grasping at the air. Paul later warns Timothy not to give himself to ‘keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.’ He repeats the same basic warning in his second letter.

All of this world’s stuff is going to one day pass away. It is all passing away. It is all vain thinking. It is all emptiness.

The only thing that matters for eternity is the ‘wisdom of God.’ We can spend far too much time dealing with empty headed philosophies of the world. Let’s be aware. Let’s be informed. But let’s not let empty headed thinking control our lives.