Educated Beyond Experience

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." - I Corinthians 8:1b

It is no secret that we live in the information age. However, when we use this expression, we tend to think about how quickly news travels and how much information is at our fingertips because of the internet and satellite communication. Might I help push your thinking into the spiritual arena when it comes to information. We have access to great Bible teachers with the touch of a button. The best expositors and scholars are all online. There are Christian bookstores that cover every known subject regarding the spiritual life of a believer. Seminars, DVDs, CDs and a host of other information sources are readily available, yet there is little if any change in the spiritual horsepower of the church.

Jesus has some advice for us on this matter of being educated beyond our experience. “These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him” (John 12:16). His disciples had been educated with “these things,” but not experienced. When the experience came to pass “when Jesus was glorified,” it shed light on their education. Jesus made a similar statement when He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now” (John 16:12). He seems sensitive about not giving them more spiritual information until they had digested and obeyed what they knew at that time.

The church today suffers from a glut of instant spiritual information. Our arteries are clogged with spiritual cholesterol. Rather than this being a blessing it has become a curse. How many of us are dealing with a sinful habit or character flaw that we know is a violation of His Word yet proceed to feed ourselves massive doses of biblical information when we have not obeyed what we do know. Gaining information beyond our experience is like reading a book on fishing but never baiting a hook. That’s the way I see things.