“You can get all A’s and still flunk life.”
July 11, 2025
Dear City Church,
When I was a kid, I wanted to be smart. Now, I’d much rather be wise.
As a kid, I wanted to know the answer to every question. I memorized facts—dates, names, places. I read Encyclopedias (this was before Google). I studied definitions in the dictionary.
Part of my desire to be smart included speed. I tried to finish worksheets faster than my classmates. My hand shot up when the teacher asked a question. I all but blurted out answers. Then, 15 years ago, I heard an educator say, “Speed is not a moral virtue,” and I knew she was right.
Somewhere along the line—when I wasn’t a kid anymore but wasn’t fully grown either—I read this quote from Walter Percy: “You can get all A's and still flunk life.” I realized that being smart wasn’t the only thing or the most important thing. I realized that being smart often correlates with being arrogant. I realized that there was a type of knowledge about life that went deeper than knowing all the answers. That way is wisdom.
During worship at City Church over the second half of the summer, we’re going to consider how the Bible talks about wisdom. We’re going to follow Scripture’s ancient paths towards becoming wise. There’s a whole genre within the Bible focused on wisdom—Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Job, parts of a few other books, and, especially, the book of Proverbs.
For six weeks this summer, we’re going to read from Proverbs so that we might become wise. We’ll turn to God’s Word, seeking not simply more information, but transformation from the inside out. As we turn our attention to the way of wisdom, I want you to think about who the wisest person you know is. And as you think about that person, I want you to ponder how they gained their wisdom.
Our summer sermon series will help us to contrast Biblical wisdom with its imitations in our cultural setting. Where most contemporary information is shallow, Biblical wisdom is deep. Where conventional searches for answers prize speed, Biblical wisdom is slow. Where most pursuits after enlightenment are done solo, Biblical wisdom is relational. Where modern truth comes from the digitized and ethereal realm of artificial intelligence, Biblical wisdom is embodied—involving mind, heart, and body.
Another quote, this one attributed to Mark Twain, captures the path of Biblical wisdom: “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” That quote may be obscure or nonsensical at first. But it’s driving out the irreplaceability of experiential knowledge as the way of wisdom. Certain things are only learned by digging in the dirt or apprenticing in a kitchen, or mimicking the brushstrokes of an experienced artist, or picked up by pedaling behind a seasoned cyclist. That’s getting at the nature of Biblical wisdom. Wisdom is practical and lived. It’s how we align our lives with the structure of the universe.
Maybe my new interest in wisdom is a sign of my age. When watching Jeopardy with my family, my memory isn’t as sharp or as quick as it once was. Answers that once were on the tip of my tongue are now buried in the recesses of my mind. It makes sense that I’d want to switch from being smart to being wise. Wisdom is more of an old man’s game.
But there’s more to it than just my fading trivia recall. The Bible tells us that the way of wisdom is the way of life. Proverbs 3 personifies wisdom as a woman, and verse 18 says this: “She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” There’s a whole lot of Biblical theology packed into that verse, stretching back to the opening chapters of Genesis where Adam and Eve are placed in a Garden containing the Tree of Life and stretching forward to the final chapters of Revelation where the New Jerusalem contains a tree with healing in its leaves. The point is this: Wisdom is the Way to true and full humanity. It’s the life we were created for. It’s the life we’re redeemed to. We’d all do well to put aside the quest for instant information, for life hacks, and artificial intelligence, and instead learn the way of wisdom.
City Church, this summer, let’s pursue the way of wisdom together.
Stay Well and Do Good,
Erik