Read:
Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it. You are all around me—in front and in back— and have put your hand on me. Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand.
~Psalm 139: 1-6For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
~Proverbs 2:6
Consider:
There’s this new show, Genius Junior, and my kids love it. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically two teams of extremely smart kids competing and demonstrating how incredibly intelligent they are, all the while making the rest of us average people feel pretty stupid. The first time we tuned in together, I’ll be honest… it made me feel like a complete idiot.
Everybody wants to be smart…to know stuff. I think most people also would like to know how to do their jobs better or learn more information on the hobbies or trades they’re interested in. Most of us want to do a better job at whatever it is we do daily at home as well. I haven’t met a young mother yet that wasn’t interested in getting tips from other, more experienced mamas. I even witness this in my own children all the time. My 8-year old daughter is constantly dancing and/or doing handstands and cartwheels. That’s not enough for her though. She always wants to know how to do the next trick or move so she can become better and better.
There’s nothing wrong with education, learning, being smart or becoming the best version of yourself in whatever it is you do. In fact, you’ve probably heard the verse from Colossians 3:23, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” The problem arises when we begin to make knowledge our god. It’s like anything really. Once we make that thing our god, it’s no longer good.
The truth is, if I really wanted to be like the kids on Genius Junior, I could spend hours each day studying math facts and memorizing maps, but I don’t think that would be a wise use of my time and I don’t think God would either.
I think the magic happens when we put our desire for Godly wisdom ahead of our desire to attain worldly knowledge. It happens when we put our relationship with God and our time reading His word before putting our nose in a textbook or a “how to” manual. It happens when decide that who we know (our Creator and our Savior), is a lot more important than what we know or want to know.
Put some balance in your life this week. Open your Bible and pray for Godly wisdom before anything else.
Pray:
God, I pray my desire to be more like Jesus outweighs my desire to know it all. I pray that my actions would be living proof of that each and every day.
Today’s post was written by Amanda Sanders.
Amanda has been married to her high school sweet heart Matt for 12 years. Together they have three kids ages 9, 7 and 4. In this season of life, Amanda spends most of her time drinking coffee, teaching children, doing laundry and repeating herself. Occasionally, she has some time for working out, reading for leisure and writing. You can find her on Sunday mornings worshiping at our Real Life UCF campus.
