We live now in a culture of expertise, so completely second-nature to us that we don’t give it a second thought. Cutting-edge advances in science and technology – ever sharpening, ever thrusting forward – are now available to anyone with an internet connection. If our doctor gives us grave news, we naturally get a second and third opinion from specialists. Businesses regularly hire consultants – experts – to help them get the edge over their competitors, and churches have jumped on the bandwagon as well. It’s become one of our shared assumptions, this reach to “find the expert,” and I wonder if its part of the reason we do not understand nor recognize a true Sage. In business circles experts are sometimes even called sages.
They are worlds apart.
A Sage differs from an expert the way a Lover differs from an engineer. To begin with, expertise quite often has nothing to do with walking with God, may in fact lead us further from him. “The reason your church is not growing is because you’re not marketing yourselves properly to your intended customers.” On a human level, that might be true, might produce some results. But wouldn’t it be better to inquire of God why the church is not growing?
Now of course, there is nothing wrong with expertise – per se. I’d be the first one to find the best heart surgeon in the country should my son need heart surgery. And yet, why is it that we seem to have so few Sages in our midst? Is it that they don’t exist, or might it be that our near-worship of expertise has pushed the Sage to the sidelines? Given mankind’s inexplicable reluctance to rely on God, and nearly limitless ability to rely on anything else, can you see how the culture of expertise actually plays right into our godlessness, despite all our protestations to the contrary?
The Sage communes with God – an existence entirely different and utterly superior to the life of the expert. Whatever counsel he offers, he draws you to God, not to self-reliance. O yes, the Sage has wisdom, gleaned from years of experience, and that wisdom is one of his great offerings. But he has learned not to lean upon his wisdom, knowing that often God is asking things of us that seem counter-intuitive, and thus his wisdom (and expertise) are fully submitted to his God.
The experts impress. The Sage draws us to God. He offers a gift of presence, the richness of a soul that has lived long with God.
-John Eldredge, The Way of the Wild Heart, 266, 267
Picture Credit: Floris Van Breugel
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