When Knowledge Isn’t Power
You all know the phrase, “knowledge is power.” Most of the time I agree with that. But sometimes that just doesn’t ring true.
Apparently Festus agreed with me. In Acts 26:24 it says, “That was too much for Festus. He interrupted with a shout: ‘Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a grip on yourself, get back in the real world!’” Or in another translation, “Your great learning is driving you insane!”
I’m a member of a PCA church. When I first began attending a “reformed” church, my knowledge grew like gangbusters! It was refreshing and exciting for me, a young college girl who had been hungry to understand more about my faith that was growing in my heart. I soaked up knowledge like a sponge!
And yet, as my husband, who has a degree from Westminster Theological Seminary, would say, “We need to repent of our knowledge.” We in the PCA are SO PROUD of our theology!! There was a group of people in Jesus’ day who were known and exalted for their knowledge. They were the Pharisees. They had all kinds of facts rolling around in their whitewashed heads, but their hearts remained unengaged. How much better it would have been for them to be poor, ignorant tax collectors who were passionate about Jesus in their hearts!
Most people within the PCA absolutely adore their Presbyterian theology. And I can understand that! I understand many of their backgrounds, and I know they were starving for understanding! But now, that knowledge can come out as a dry list of rules and expectations, and the heart is squashed and ultimately stops beating altogether. Not just their hearts, but the hearts of those to whom they spit out this head-knowledge. As it turns out, this knowledge is power–just the wrong kind of power. It is the kind that puffs up, not the kind that empowers others to live joyful lives in Christ!
I am not advocating a life of sticking our heads in the sand and refusing to learn theology. Goodness knows, my theological understanding of God’s sovereignty has gotten me through many rough times, from receiving the diagnosis that Brig has Down syndrome to the every day challenges of managing a busy household with five children. But if you find yourself getting excited about the knowledge you carry in your head, you need to examine your heart. Is it warm or cold? Are you soft and tender toward Jesus? toward sinners? Do you recognize that you are in the exact same position as those “tax collectors” (or drunks or financially irresponsible people or promiscuous teens or fill-in-the-blank)? Do you really understand the message that you are just as needy as others and that Jesus is just as compassionate and tender-hearted toward them?
If you can answer that yes, you are soft and tender toward God, and that your heart beats for him, then your knowledge is not taking you out of the real world or driving you insane. In fact, it is probably the firm foundation that your heart stands upon in times of need. But if you know and recognize that your faith is all about godly discipline, rules, and head-knowledge, then I would say knowledge isn’t power for you. Knowledge is killing you. Or at the least making you out of touch with the real world, or as Festus would say, “insane.”
January 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I love that… “We need to repent of our knowledge.” As a dad who has always been in the thinking realm, it’s good to read a post like yours. And I really liked your post about who will speak for the voiceless… still wondering how vocal to be for my 5-month-old son with ds.