Pastor: Turn your bibles to 2 Kings, Chapter 2.
you: *thinking to yourself* That’s the story of Elijah and Elisha. I am a Bible scholar!
Pastor: Open up to the book of Esther.
you: *recalling* Oooh, good book. That’s the book before Job. Man, I’m good.
Pastor: Let’s start reading from Luke 2:1.
you: *turning to neighbor* Aha! This is going to be another sermon on the birth of Jesus. Just wait and see . . .
Familiarity is a funny thing. Knowledge is too.
What happens when someone tries to talk to you about something you already know? You check out. The attitude is there is nothing you need to know. No new wisdom can be obtained.
Ever check out of a sermon? Ever read a passage in the Bible but really just skimmed it because you’re already familiar with it?
1 Corinthians 8:1-2 (NIV)
1 […] We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
Familiarity and knowledge are funny things. They keep us from what we “ought to know.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
i’m w/ ya on this man… maybe the line can be crossed by valuing wisdom over knowledge..then it’s easier to view these familiar verses from different angles….in stead of widening our knowledge, we can view this as deepening our wisdom?
big John:
I like that perspective. Widening our knowledge instead of deepening our wisdom.
I’ve been reading through Psalm 119 and that is one thing that is starting to get ingrained in me. Psalm 119 talks a lot about “meditating” on the Word.
Not just reading it for knowledge.
One of these days I hope I can express as strong a love for the Word as the Psalmist does . . .