Pizza Parties and Wisdom

This post was written by TeenPact Student Body Representative Nathan Furlough of Ohio.

Of all my experiences in TeenPact, one of my favorites is staffing the one-day class. For those unfamiliar, the one-day class takes 8-12-year-olds on a fast-track of the basic TeenPact elements. Every one-day class builds up to the grand finale; TeenPact legislature. Now the bills on this day don’t look like the bills you would expect to see on your typical legislative docket, and that’s the absolute best part. There is truly nothing like hearing an 8-year-old give an impassioned dissertation on the need for a Government-mandated pizza party, followed by a 12-year-old speaking on tax policy changes. In just a few years the bills shift to things of a much more serious nature. As we get older it is not as though our love of pizza suddenly changes, or at least I sure hope not. It is our perspective that changes.

In just a few years we start to realize what truly matters, and those mandated pizza parties lose their relevance in comparison. A whole lot of my life so far has consisted of sorting through what I think is important and what is not. We do it all the time, in big decisions and little ones. And the truth is I’ve never been very good at it. 

The struggle of making decisions and weighing options dates back to the first sin. When I read of Eve’s conversation with the serpent in Genesis 3, I see a whole lot of myself. The Lord had made it clear that there was nothing good or desirable about the fruit of this tree. It was the deceitful words of the serpent, and equally Eve’s perception, that lead her to see the tree as good. Eve trusted her understanding of value over the one God has set out. Ever since then, we’ve seen her decision repeated. We rely on our perceptions, reasoning, and logic to decide what has value and what is trash. Although Eve was promised that her wisdom had the potential to outdo God’s, that proved false. Mankind’s selfish, near-sighted version of wisdom has destroyed us and our world throughout history. 

In Matthew 4:18-22, Jesus asks Simon Peter to do something completely ridiculous – to set aside everything that seems valuable in his steady job and stable life to follow blindly after Jesus. This is biblical wisdom, not that God will bless us with Sherlock Holmes reasoning because we are Christians but as we grow in love and closeness with Him we will act in accordance with His infinite wisdom.

This is the wisdom that leads you to drop whatever you once deemed valuable and count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. (See Philippians 3:7-11) 

I know I’m not there yet. I spend most of my time striving after things that have the eternal impact of a Government-mandated pizza party. Yet, by the grace of God, we are all given a lifetime of opportunities to choose God’s wisdom in our daily lives. All we have to do is let go of our self-centered wisdom and exchange it for eternal wisdom of God. 

Student Body Representative Nathan Furlough