Scripture: Wisdom 7:28
For God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

Thought for the Day: The Jewish tradition that Jesus knew encouraged critical thinking and discussion. Learning at that time was a constant discussion (sometimes an outright argument) between rabbi and student. In the Gospels, order we see Jesus teaching this way as well—constantly prodding his students to go deeper, developing critical thinking skills by telling parables. It’s a good thing to keep in mind as our “modern” society attempts to standardize education, somehow under the impression we all learn the same way, or test the same way, or that information can be taught by rote.

While memorization of facts, concepts, and equations is certainly helpful, in and of themselves they don’t impart any wisdom. We must develop our critical thinking skills to churn ideas over in our minds. Like Jesus and every rabbi before and after him, we must constantly ask the tough questions, constantly seek new information, constantly challenge each other with new ideas.

We must allow our minds to be changed when beliefs or ideas don’t hold up in light of new information or reason. As human understanding of the natural world progresses, our ideas about God, nature, and our place in the universe must necessarily grow and develop too. All wisdom is a gift from God, so why would we be afraid to learn, say, that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old? Our intelligence is a gift from God. To ignore it is blasphemous.

We have been given the ability to put all the little factoids we learn throughout our lives together with all the experiences of our lives, and with the aid of Spirit, infer true wisdom from them. This is not to imply there is always an epiphany at the end of a learning experience.

Rather, the truly wise know that what they understand to be true today could change completely tomorrow, in light of new information. This ability to keep an open mind as we journey toward ever more intimate relationship with God is one of the greatest gifts we have been given, and using these incredible minds honors and respects God.

Prayer: May I always keep an open mind, Supreme Intelligence. May the Spirit of Wisdom always find me willing to learn, willing to understand, and willing to change my mind. Amen.