Wisdom and Culture
Our world often equates wisdom with personal achievement, wealth, and influence. Proverbs offers a different vision for life as it sees true wisdom coming from God and resulting in lives that honor God. Thinker and theologian Tim Keller offers a countercultural perspective that challenges these prevailing narratives we find in culture at large. In Counterfeit Gods, he critiques the way modern society defines success, arguing that our pursuit of money, popularity, and power often enslaves us rather than fulfills us.
“If you live for money, you are a slave to it. If you live for popularity, you are a slave to what people think about you. If you live for power, you are a slave to control. The world tells us these things are the wisest goals, but they will break you.”
Keller highlights how misplaced priorities lead to spiritual and emotional bondage. The cultural narrative insists that success and self-worth must be earned through relentless striving. Yet, biblical wisdom reveals a different reality—one where true fulfillment is found not in worldly achievements, but in a relationship with God. Modern culture conditions people to measure their worth by their accomplishments. The pressure to succeed often leads to burnout, anxiety, and an unquenchable thirst for more. However, Keller reminds us that when success becomes an ultimate goal, it turns into an idol that ultimately betrays us. He writes:
“The human heart takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them.”
True wisdom recognizes that success, while not inherently bad, doesn’t give ultimate fulfillment. The paradox of Christian wisdom is that strength is found in weakness, and power is demonstrated through servanthood. Keller states:
“The wisdom of God is that the way up is down. The way to get real power is to give it away. The way to true riches is to become generous. The way to influence is not through coercion, but through service.”
This wisdom is all upside down to the world around us. But that is precisely what Proverbs exhorts and Jesus teaches (cf. Matt. 5-7). The irony is that while this wisdom is not natural to the world, it is exactly what our world needs and longs for. Why? Because we desire things that are noble, lovely, pure, and transcendent. Godly wisdom transcends any “wisdom” that culture can offer.
* All quotes from: Keller, Timothy. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters. New York: Dutton, 2009.