Three Wise Man (Part 2) by Maxie Dunnam

In my last article, I began reflecting on the Three Wise Men in the Christmas story. I began by insisting only the wise know their wisdom is incomplete and limited.

These wise men had journeyed along a difficult path, looking for a king, using the very best science they knew, following a star.

But somehow, along the way, their guidance seemed to run out. I don’t know whether they lost sight of the star for a time, or whether they simply doubted their science. The scripture does tell us that when they got to Jerusalem, obviously they didn’t know what to do or where to go next. They began to inquire about the city, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.’

Finding Divine Guidance When Human Wisdom Fails

I believe this turn of scripture offers marvelous guidance. Those who are wise always know that their wisdom is incomplete and limited. When we can’t go any further in the wisdom that is ours, we seek wisdom elsewhere, and when we come to the end of our human understanding, if we are wise, we turn to God.

This is a big part of what prayer is about. We don’t have to understand prayer to practice it. We don’t have to have proof to know that intercession works. 

Note this, The wise men not only know their wisdom is incomplete they know they can’t save themselves. They know their salvation is beyond their science and their system. Why did they start on their quest in the first place? The need of their life, the deep yearning for meaning, drove them to it. They had not found salvation and meaning in their studies, their systems, their science, even in their stars. So, in their wisdom, they started looking for Christ.

Why Education and Government Systems Cannot Save Us

Oh for that sort of wisdom. We’ve run the gamut haven’t we? At times we think education will save us, and then in one of the most educated nations of the world, we have a Hitler and a Holocaust. We think government will do it, then in the boldest experiment in democracy, we have a system of slavery and a civil war. We think social enlightenment and secular humanism will do it, and in our nation that prides itself in such, we abort a million babies each year, and every city in the United States has the poor and the homeless to shame us and to show us the limitation of putting our hope in social theories or institutions.

I’m afraid that’s where we are today. We need to learn from the wise men. Our wisdom is limited. We can’t save ourselves. God alone is our salvation.

Lessons from Watergate: Charles Colson on the Reality of Sin

Charles Colson has helped us to see this in a remarkable way. I continue to be amazed at the perception of the man and his commentary on political and social systems. Watergate happened in 1972. In 1982, the 10th anniversary of Watergate, a bevy of reporters followed Colson around for weeks wanting his reflections on Watergate. They surfaced three main questions. One, could Watergate happen again? Two, are you bitter? What are your regrets? And three, what should be the lessons of Watergate?

In response to the first question, “Could Watergate happen again?”, Colson said that, “a surprising number of Americans seem to have the utopian idea that by throwing one bunch of rascals out of office, we cleanse the system of corruption forever. “Then he drove that issue to the wretched dilemma of the human spirit that is captured in the anguished word of the great apostle: “The good that I wish I do not; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.” And then in a deeply personal way, Colson confessed, “Like Paul, I’ve known the awful evil and the insidious way it can masquerade as virtue. Paul’s words remind us that man is, by his very nature, a sinner, incapable of restraining his own sin… that is not to say that all men will breech their public trust as I did; but Watergate was a manifestation of the innate evil within us all.”

We cannot save ourselves. No system will suffice. Where will we turn this season?