This month in our student ministries we've been teaching about biblical wisdom. Using the basic definition of wisdom: Knowledge Applied; we've been looking at Matt 7:24-27, Judges 13, etc.
One theme that seems to be surfacing over and over again seems to be the difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge: would mean an objective understanding of a specific topic. I know that africa exists. I've seen it on a map. I know people who have come from africa. I know it's hot, has both rainforests and deserts and is a massive land.
Wisdom: in a sense, would mean a subjective experience within that specific topic. As I know that a place like africa exists, I would then visit it to get to know the people, the faces, the stories and walk the land.
Through the exercise of wisdom, I would then come to a real belief that africa is a beautiful place. Not only would I have seen it on a map, but i could point out where I have been, what I like about the place and why it has a special place in my heart.
Maybe this is what the disciple whom Jesus loved (John) was getting at when he wrote the gospel of John. To john, belief was so much more than simply knowing the truth. Belief was all about that which we have touched, seen, spoke with, walked with, risked with...
The hurdle now for us as youth workers is to actively believe in a God who makes contact every day with us as adults in the real world. And as we model it for our students, to encourage them not in knowing about a God who will change their lives; but to come to a solid belief after they have themselves had seen, spoke with, walked with and risked with the very same God who we have devoted our lives to chasing after will journey with them as He had journied with us in the past.
If you are a youth worker and you are reading this now, I pray that you will experience the same joy that I do as we reach our kids for the Kingdom and not just know, but believe that He will make a huge difference through you.
Until next time,
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