KNOWLEDGE - WISDOM = PRIDE

LEARNING CAN sometimes draw us away from God who gives us the ability to learn.

We should strive to add biblical wisdom to our knowledge because knowledge without wisdom makes us proud. By itself, knowledge can lead us astray. 1 Corinthians 8:1 NIV states, “We all possess knowledge but knowledge puffs up…” Sometimes people are experts in their field and become arrogant. The danger with this is that the Scriptures say that God resists the proud and reminds us that “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men…” Proverbs 2:12 NIV.

Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God’s perspective and to respond according to scriptural principles. It allows us the privilege of using our knowledge in a way that glorifies God and helps us to discern what is true as we gain knowledge.

While knowledge is temporary, biblical wisdom is eternal. The cutting-edge knowledge today will be out-dated one day. We need, therefore, to add biblical wisdom to our knowledge because wisdom is eternal. Wisdom transcends knowledge, and only when we add it to our knowledge will we be on the path to TOTAL SUCCESS. Joshua 1:8 (NLT) states, “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

In the biblical sense, meditation is not about emptying your mind and letting it go blank. When the Bible speaks of meditation, it’s about focusing, thinking, and active engagement where we take a particular piece of wisdom from the Scriptures and let it marinate in our minds. Whenever we commit a scripture to memory, for example, that’s in part what meditation is about. Prospering and succeeding isn’t just about money, but true success brings wholeness, and the real abundant life only comes with wisdom. “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are my constant guide. 99 Yes, I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of your laws. 100 I am even wiser than my elders, for I have kept your commandments.” Psalm 119:98-100 (NLT).

We should strive to live an integrated life in which knowledge and wisdom are applied. God’s wisdom trumps knowledge. It’s not just about the gaining of knowledge or just gaining wisdom, but it’s about applying both to life. It may begin with information, but it ends with application because information by itself is not very powerful. Knowledge is not power, but rather ‘applied knowledge’ is power.

God wants His Kingdom to come and His will to be done through our lives. Knowing a lot about the Bible, doesn’t mean we’re wise; it must be applied. Jesus said in John 13:17 (NIV), “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom ... and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:22-25 (NIV). Gain knowledge, read the Bible, study, and meditate on it, gain wisdom from it and then apply it to the knowledge. By doing this, we honour God with our intellect.