Not A Trivial Pursuit

Not A Trivial Pursuit

Some of you might remember the game Trivial Pursuit. It came out in 1981. The object of the game was to answer a correct question in each of 6 categories such as Geography, Sports and Leisure, History, and Science and Nature.

Some, well okay, most, of the questions are pretty obscure. For example, What does a heliologist study? (the sun) Or, What’s the singular of scampi? (scampo) Or, What is the crystal anniversary? Anyone here been married 15 years?

If you are an expert on trivia or, as I like to call it, useless information, you would probably do pretty well at this game.

Here are some more things you might like to know. (read list) There, now you have this vast amount of knowledge, now you know everything. You never know, it may save your life someday, knowing a cat has 32 muscles in each ear. Maybe it can win you some money on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or maybe Jeopardy.

We all have knowledge about something. We may even be somewhat of an “expert” on a subject. I have a lot of knowledge of things like sports nicknames or the roster of the ’69 Cubs. Really useful information, huh? I can tell you whatever you want to know about bears. All that knowledge and 50 cents will get me a cup of coffee.

You see, knowledge is a wonderful thing. But, it is one thing to be educated, to have knowledge. It is quite another to have wisdom. You see wisdom is the application of knowledge. Wisdom is knowing what to do with all of that stuff, that knowledge floating around in our brains.

Remember the story of Jesus going to visit Mary and Martha? He sat down to teach them and as he taught, Mary was sitting at his just soaking in every word. Meanwhile, Martha was out in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Martha got very upset because Mary wasn’t also in the kitchen helping her. So she comes to Jesus and complains “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” Jesus answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen that which is better and it will not be taken from her.”

Martha knew (she had the knowledge) that God was in her living room but she didn’t apply that knowledge to make the right decision.

In the movie “Groundhog Day”, Bill Murray is a reporter stuck in a town in PA, covering Groundhog Day. He finds himself stuck in time, waking up every morning to the same day. At first he is horrified, but then he realizes he can take advantage of what he is already learned from living the through the day previously. Eventually he realizes he has the opportunity to "make the most of the day." (Erwin F. Goedicke)

He learned to take what he gained (knowledge) and apply it (wisdom).

An old bit of carpenter’s advice is: Measure twice, cut once. The more consequential an action, the more carefully it needs to be thought out. Wise people know it is never a waste of time to ensure accuracy.

The Bible doesn’t say, but I would guess that Solomon didn’t rush into giving his answer when the Lord said, “Ask what I should give you.” He probably carefully thought out what he would ask for.

An angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. Now before I tell you what the dean chose, let me ask you-what do you think he chose? Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite wisdom.

"Done!" says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispers, "Say something." The dean looks at them and says, "I should have taken the money."

Regardless of his second answer about taking the money, the dean made the right choice. Beauty fades and money is spent or lost. Just ask Mike Tyson. I heard this past week that he lost most of the millions of dollars he’s earned in his career.

Wisdom is worth more than anything else you could possibly want. Why does Proverbs (written by Solomon) tell us that, whatever we do we should get wisdom? (Prov. 4:5-7) It’s because wisdom yields far greater benefits than material goods or comforts.

Prov. 8:22 – Wisdom comes from God himself. Wisdom results in understanding, Prov. 8:5, truth, verse 7, and righteousness, verse 8.