I had quite a conversation with a woman in the hair salon the other day. I do not even know her name - had never even seen her before in my life, actually. But we were both captive audiences - I was getting my hair cut and she was waiting for me to finish, and so we started chatting.
We quickly got past the usual expected pleasantries. But then I mentioned to her that I was living in South Korea for a year. And that's when the questions started. "Aren't you worried about getting kidnapped?" "Have you ever had someone try to put drugs in your suitcases?" "How could you travel to Asia all by yourself?" "What if North Korea attacks South Korea?" "How can you eat their food over there? It's barely even edible!" "Do they have houses over there?"
And so on it went. Within 15 minutes, I was more than slightly annoyed. The fact of the matter is that I was talking with pure ignorance....and honestly, it upset me. The crime rate in Korea is far lower than in America, North and South Korea are not anywhere near on the brink of war, the majority of the food is wonderful (and all of it is incredibly healthy!), and South Korea is now a first-world nation - one of the largest economies in the world, in fact. The fact that this woman could be so convinced of so much that was so wrong just blew me away. It was quite upsetting.
But then my thoughts turned introspective, and I began to think of my own mode of thinking. So often I am in danger of letting my pride get in my way, of convincing myself that my extensive traveling and other experiences during college and beyond have given me more wisdom, made me less ignorant, than those around me. I put myself on a pedestal, assuring myself that in my worldly wisdom I'm such a better position than others.
But God's way are not ours. His definitions of ignorance and wisdom are not the same as mine. They may very easily, in fact, be the exact opposite of the definitions found in the world. Something to think about the next time you let your pride convince you of your wisdom.
We quickly got past the usual expected pleasantries. But then I mentioned to her that I was living in South Korea for a year. And that's when the questions started. "Aren't you worried about getting kidnapped?" "Have you ever had someone try to put drugs in your suitcases?" "How could you travel to Asia all by yourself?" "What if North Korea attacks South Korea?" "How can you eat their food over there? It's barely even edible!" "Do they have houses over there?"
And so on it went. Within 15 minutes, I was more than slightly annoyed. The fact of the matter is that I was talking with pure ignorance....and honestly, it upset me. The crime rate in Korea is far lower than in America, North and South Korea are not anywhere near on the brink of war, the majority of the food is wonderful (and all of it is incredibly healthy!), and South Korea is now a first-world nation - one of the largest economies in the world, in fact. The fact that this woman could be so convinced of so much that was so wrong just blew me away. It was quite upsetting.
But then my thoughts turned introspective, and I began to think of my own mode of thinking. So often I am in danger of letting my pride get in my way, of convincing myself that my extensive traveling and other experiences during college and beyond have given me more wisdom, made me less ignorant, than those around me. I put myself on a pedestal, assuring myself that in my worldly wisdom I'm such a better position than others.
But God's way are not ours. His definitions of ignorance and wisdom are not the same as mine. They may very easily, in fact, be the exact opposite of the definitions found in the world. Something to think about the next time you let your pride convince you of your wisdom.
1 Corinthians 3:18-20
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become "fools" so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
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