December 10, 2010
In the Know
Every year I take my grandkids to the dollar store to do their Christmas shopping. Lydia always puts Jesus on her Christmas list and this year He got a bag of Teddy Bear cookies, which will later be taken to the local food bank. We wrapped the gifts and Lydia wrote the name tags for each one, until it came to Teddy Bear cookies. With five year-old wisdom Lydia said, “Jesus already knows these are His cookies. He knows everything…even everything in our heart.” I guess it is a little hard to surprise the Lord with a gift.
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Gail;
-----Knowledge is an interesting thing. It is not events, objects, and people themselves. It is a representation of these, like a painted picture is a representation of a place without being the place. Therefore, it becomes important to keep in mind that knowledge and the matter it represents are two different things. This fact rests at the cause of all misbehavior.
-----You might say, “Now, Steve, original sin is the cause of all misbehavior.” And, although it is the cause of all human misbehavior, it was not the cause of Lucifer’s misbehavior. He created it. At one time, even he was perfectly without sin. Without flaw, his knowledge impeccably represented the way things were. But he allowed into his knowledge a misrepresentation of the way things were and thereby created the misdeed of considering himself as God - a definite misrepresentation. The fact that he did this by his will makes his will the cause of it, and the misrepresentation at the cause of it. He convinced Eve to accept this misrepresentation, and by her will, she ran with it to Adam who willingly partook of it as well. So now we all muddle around in it.
-----Thereafter, man’s knowledge has had two major problems. 1) It is a greatly distorted representation of what actually is. Our minds are not digital, like computers. Computers store data in a fashion which allows instant retrieval in exactly the same detail it was stored. Our minds store data more in a fashion of meaning to themselves. This fashion is highly subjected to the individual‘s own experience and perceptions (from where meaning comes), therefore the resulting knowledge is greatly distorted. Like Paul said, “...we see in a mirror dimly.“ (I Cor 3:12) And 2) As individuals, we have not experienced diddly-squat. What’s going on in your neighbor’s house at this moment? Enough said. As a race in its thousands of years of existence, all humans have not experienced diddly-squat. What’s going on around Alpha-Centauri? Even if our knowledge could rise to the level of a perfectly accurate representation, it is minimal to what can be known. Like Paul continued, “...I know in part.”
-----It gives me great comfort to know that the Word of God is actively dividing the thoughts and intentions of my heart. I have some responsibility for making my own divisions in the heart as well, but of course, my divisions do not reach as deeply and refined as do His. The good works that He prepared beforehand in which we should walk depend in part upon the knowledge we are able to gain about Him and this wonderful life in Him, for it is we who must walk. But we can not even act upon our will to walk without knowing at least something. And we could not glean by our own experiences near enough knowledge to begin this walk. Therefore, it is by His Word that we are supplied sufficient knowledge to walk at least appropriately. And it is by His knowledge of us that this Word settles into us in such a manner that makes us His workmanship for the walk.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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