The Wisdom Pyramid

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"In an effort to help us consume a more balanced, healthy diet of information, Brett McCracken has created the "Wisdom Pyramid." Inspired by the food pyramid model, the Wisdom Pyramid challenges us to increase our intake of enduring, trustworthy sources (like the Bible) while moderating our consumption of less reliable sources (like the internet and social media)."

ABOUT BRETT MCCRACKEN

BRETT MCCRACKEN

Brett McCracken is a senior editor and director of communications at The Gospel Coalition. He is the author of The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World, Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community, Gray Matters: Navigating the Space Between Legalism and Liberty, and Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide. Brett and his wife, Kira, live in Santa Ana, California, with their three children. They belong to Southlands Church, and Brett serves as an elder. You can follow him on Twitter.

 
 

THE WISDOM 40 CHALLENGE

The Wisdom Pyramid contains six categories/levels. Below are five suggested activities for each category. Over a span of 40 days, try to check off at least two of the five options in each category. Look for ways to include others with you in these activities.

 
 

BIBLE

  • Read through the whole book of Proverbs, one chapter a day. Spend five minutes in prayer after your daily reading, asking God to grant you wisdom.

  • Pick one passage or entire chapter(s) from Scripture to memorize. Practice daily to help commit it to memory (perhaps following the method mentioned in the CATC Articles, “Scripture Memory.” Some passages to consider memorizing are Psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm 46, Isaiah 53, Colossians 1:15-20, Ephesians 1:3-14, Philippians 2:1-11, Revelation 21:1-8, Romans 8, Romans 12, Matthew 5. 

  • Listen to all the Psalm-based songs in Poor Bishop Hooper’s EveryPsalm project (find them on Spotify), or other Scripture-based albums like those from Psallos, The Corner Room, Cardiphonia, and others.

  • Read Matt Smethurst’s short book, Before You Open Your Bible: Nine Heart Postures For Approaching God’s Word.

  • If you have kids, read a Bible story to them (or tell it from memory) at least once a day.

CHURCH

  • Attend your church’s worship gathering every Sunday.

  • Text someone in your church every week and ask how you can pray for them. Then pray for them.

  • Send your pastors a note of appreciation, thanking them for how they’ve led and served over the past few difficult years.

  • Read a short biography about a missionary, theologian, or key figure in church history. Or read one of the books in Crossway’s “Theologians on the Christian Life” series.

  • Gather a couple people from your church to read through The Wisdom Pyramid together and discuss.

  • If you have kids, read Everyone a Child Should Know by Clare Heath-Whyte

NATURE

  • Go on a daily walk outside, even for just 15 minutes (if that’s all you can spare), and go totally unplugged. Leave your phone, headphones, and other electronics at home. 

  • Take a notepad and find a quiet spot in nature to just sit for an hour. Could be a local stream, pond, or beach; a garden or park in your town; or just under a tree in your backyard. Write down as much as you can about what you observe there. Then, write a few reflections on the kind of Creator who would create “handiwork” like this.

  • Visit a park or nature preserve with family or friends, and give everyone 30 minutes to take one photo each of the most beautiful and interesting pieceS of God’s creation they can capture with their camera. Only one photo! Then share your photos with each other, and have each person explain why they took their photo of what they did.

  • Go to a farm or a local farmer’s market, and then make a meal using only (or mostly) the food you picked up there.

  • Read Wendell Berry’s poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” and then spend a quiet few minutes outside, reflecting and thanking God in prayer for graciously making the world.

BOOKS

  • Read an old book (published at least 100 years ago) of enduring Christian wisdom. The Puritan Paperbacks series from Banner of Truth is a great option. If you haven’t read Athanasius’s On the Incarnation, maybe start there.

  • Read a work of fiction. Perhaps Brothers Karamazov, something from Charles Dickens, or the Chronicles of Narnia series.

  • Read a book you will mostly disagree with or find maddening. Once finished, try to write down at least three helpful things you took
    away from it.

  • Re-read a book you love. 

  • Make a list of the five books (other than the Bible) that have most shaped your faith, with short descriptions of how these books impacted you. Perhaps share your list online.

BEAUTY

  • Make something beautiful like a song, a poem, a painting, a wood-carving, a delicious meal, anything.

  • Listen to the entirety of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. You can find it on YouTube, Spotify, and most other streaming sites. If that’s too daunting, listen to one of the works from The Gospel Coalition article,  “6 Works of Classical Music Every Christian Should Know.”

  • Re-watch a movie you’ve seen that caused you to think deeply about beauty and truth. Ask a friend for a recommendation.

  • Memorize an Emily Dickinson poem or a Shakespeare sonnet
    (or really any poem).

INTERNET + SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Use social media only in positive (non-angry, non-complaining) ways for the 40-day period. Praise someone else’s work. Promote good things (music, films, books) you love. Share insightful quotes or Bible verses. Post a beautiful photo you took.

  • Take at least one day per week to be completely free of all social media. 

  • Limit your outside-of-work screen time to one hour or less each day.

  • Post something on social media that publicly praises or gives thanks for a person who has modeled wisdom in your life.

  • Create a YouTube playlist that curates a collection of videos you’ve found helpful or edifying on a topic of your choice. Share it with others who might find the videos beneficial as well.