by Rev. Benjamin Chung (鍾立恆牧師)
According to the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:10 NIV, “There is no one righteous, not even one”. This statement might cause us to consider what the point is then to live according to God’s ways, if we’re not perfect. But that’s just the case, only God is perfect. And it is He who tells us how to live according to His ways so that we can live and attain righteousness through Him. This is what wisdom is.
But knowing what is wise and doing what is wise are two completely different things. I’m sure we know many people who we might consider as wise, but also know they have done silly things that are not wise. We can always say, “To err, is human”. That’s completely fine. What I want to address even more is being steadfastly wise—until the end. Many people have appeared to be spiritually wise and lived a life unto the Lord for their entire lives, only to turn from God in the last days.
If we consider the wisest man in the world, King Solomon was one such person. It is amazing to consider that this wise author of many books of the Bible could stumble and fall! Yet he did fall in his old age. He married 1,000 women int total, of other nations: 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). (There must have been a ton of weddings every year!) But this wasn’t the worst of it. “It isn’t?” you say. No, because this is just the external issue. The wisdom King Solomon did not heed was that by marrying the women of other nations, he would fall prey to their idols and practices, which is exactly what happened. He was loyal to the Lord in his younger years, but succumbed to the religious idolatry of his wives in his later years, likely at their behest.
This is why I believe watching our actions is so important. Because if we are not careful but let our guard down, even for a moment, we can fall prey to the Devil’s schemes. This is why we must remain steadfast in our walk, even in our old age. If we grow lax, even for a moment, the devil will pounce and we can stumble and fall, just as the wisest man in the world did. Now, I’m not saying that I believe any of us will fall into polygamy, I highly doubt this. Rather, as Matthew 10:22 says, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Church, stand firm in the truth of the Bible and as King Solomon wrote, “Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:27).
Translation:
根據使徒保羅在羅馬書第三章十節所說：「沒有義人，連一個也沒有。」 這個說法可能使我們想到，假若我們都不是完全人，那麼按照神的方式生活有何意義呢？事實上，只有神是完全的。 這正是祂告訴我們如何按照祂旨意而活，以致我們可以藉著祂得生並且得稱為義。 這就是屬靈的智慧。
然而，知道什麼是智慧和作有智慧的事則是兩個完全不同的事兒。 我相信在我們認識的許多人當中，有好些我們可能認為他們是滿有智慧的，但他們也會做出一些愚蠢而且非明智的決定。 我們總以「人非聖賢， 誰能無過」為理由，雖然這也算是合理解釋，但我想強調的是那種由始至終堅定不移的屬靈智慧。有許多人似乎一直都為主而活並且在屬靈生活上也顯得很有智慧，可惜在最終他們卻離棄了神。
所羅門王是我們公認為世界上最聰明的人。 令人驚訝的是，這位在聖經中有很多著作的睿智作者仍然會絆跌！ 他確實在他晚年時跌倒並且離棄了神。他一生總共與一千名女仕結婚，這包括了其他國家的女子：七百名妻子和三百名妃嬪（列王記上第十一章三節）。（每年肯定會有不少婚禮！）但這並不是最糟糕的，你或許會說:「不是吧！」 真的，因為那只是表面的問題。 所羅門王最不智的地方便是與異國家的女子通婚，結果他淪為她們的偶像和習俗的犧牲品，隨著她們的風俗而離棄了神。 他年輕時曾忠於耶和華，但後來卻屈從於妻子們的要求去拜偶像。
這就是為什麼我認為緊守我們的行為是如此重要，因為倘若我們掉以輕心，即使是一瞬間，我們也可能淪為魔鬼計劃的犧牲品。 這也是為什麼即使在我們垂暮之年仍必須堅定不移地向前行。 如果我們稍有不慎，魔鬼便會向我們猛撲，使我們失足跌倒，就像世界上最聰明的所羅門王一樣。我並不認為我們當中會有人陷入一夫多妻這樣的網纙中，而是，如馬太福音第十章二十二節所說：「並且你們要為我的名被眾人恨惡。惟有忍耐到底的必然得救。」 教會啊，務要堅定站穩在聖經的真理上，正如所羅門王自己所寫的： 「不可偏向左右； 要使你的腳離開邪惡。」（箴言第四章二十七節）。