Day Thirteen "The Arrogance of Knowledge"

“…Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies.” [I Cor. 8:1b]

We live in an educated society. We place a premium on a good education. The old saying goes, “Knowledge is power.” This is not necessarily the case in the church. There are many Christians who have devoted their lives to studying the scriptures. Through disciplined studies they have become Bible scholars. This is good only if, with this knowledge of the mind in knowing the scriptures, comes a heart to know the God of the scriptures.

I never knew that people could make the study of the Bible so cold and boring. This is what I encountered in many of my Bible classes in college. I sat at the feet of learned professors but some of them did not have fire in their souls. They may have had knowledge but this did not translate into burning in their hearts. Truth be known, some of these professors carried an air of arrogance and superiority.

Knowledge can make us arrogant. In your life does that describe you? Do you know a lot about the Bible but know very little of the God of the Bible? Do you walk around self-satisfied with your mastery of Biblical themes and yet have no heat in your soul. Do you look down on others as inferior in their Bible knowledge? If this describes your attitude you need to stop what you are doing and repent.

Knowledge can be wonderful in the church when accompanied with the heat of love for Christ and other people. [Matt. 22:37-38] In no way am I advocating less study of the scriptures. I am simply stating that if that is all we do it will not produce a revived life or church.

Think about it. We have endless sermons, Bible Studies, Bible Conferences, and study tools. Have any of these things produced revival? Revival is born out of hearts set ablaze and hungry for more of Him. This will not come when hearts arrogantly think they know it all. No man or woman has ever discovered all there is to discover about God. No person past or present has ever plunged the depths of scripture to study and gathered all the knowledge that can be gathered. There is no room for arrogance. We should prostrate ourselves in His presence repenting of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

There is a knowledge of the holy. Do we dare to venture there? Do we dare go past the knowledge in our minds and pursue knowledge of experience in encounters with the living God? This is the kind of knowledge we need more of but is so sorely missing in far too many lives. Let us pursue knowledge but let us do so with the desire to pursue fresh encounters with the Lord as well. When we have feasted on both, let us prostrate ourselves in humility before God and people adopting the attitude of John the Baptist who said, “He must increase and I must decrease.” [Jn. 3:30]

Steps to Revival

1. Do you have areas of arrogance in your life? What are they?

2. In what ways have you acted superior to other people?

3. What evidence of humility can be found in your life?

4. Do you love God more than knowledge? Are you content to know about Him rather than to know Him?

5. In what tangible ways is your love for God translating into edifying people?