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Growth is continuous if you allow it
By Marc | September 27, 2007
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.” – Job 42:3
Unless you have lived in a hole your entire life, more than likely you have encountered someone who thinks he or she knows just about everything and is willing to impart their two cents to anyone within earshot. Sometimes we may be guilty of it ourselves.
The other night I was thinking about some of the crazy ideas I used to have, especially the ones since I became a Christian. I thought I knew what was expected of me and I chuckled at the silliness of people who have it all wrong (especially fellow Christians of other denominations). “Well, they’re just a cult. They do this when the Bible says you should do that.” I also thought I had a grasp on what salvation truly was and our motivations for attaining it. Then there are the wasted hours reading some crackpot or another’s theories on what a “real” Christian is.
Before I turned my life over to Christ, I thought that when I died, my consciousness would just be free to roam the universe. You know, with the unicorns and space pixies. I always wanted to explore the universe, so this seemed like a good plan to me. This idea, like the ones I had in the previous paragraph, combined with what I know now, just show me that I am still growing in understanding. Even things I thought just a week ago seem juvenile to me now. I think, “What was I smoking?”
In the early-to mid-80’s, my Walkman knock-off (which was about the size of a VHS tape), was playing Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Synchronicity by the Police, and the Footloose soundtrack almost non-stop. When I was in my mid to late teens, I listened to a LOT of heavy metal: Dokken, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Cinderella, etc. I also made fun of the pop music I had enjoyed just a few years earlier. My interests in music have changed over the past twenty or-so years, but occasionally I’ll get an urge to pull out my old cassettes (yes, cassettes) and relive some old times. What I found is that even though I still have a place in my heart for all of them, I just can’t get into that music like I used to. I have grown and changed.
Think of all the things we enjoyed that we’ve since considered silly and embarrassing. The mullet. The permed mullet. Disco. Acid-wash ensembles. The Ford Pinto. Leisure suits. Comic book variant covers. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Elton John.
As we get older, we gain wisdom. We don’t just get it all in one shot, unless probably you’re Solomon. But we don’t gain wisdom just by aging. We get it by experiencing and learning, opening ourselves to admit we don’t know everything and desiring to learn something new. Some people learn quickly; some take a little time; some are stubborn and just don’t want to budge even though they could be headed for a fall.
I think there’s something in man, especially men, that makes us always want to be right. It might be the testosterone; it might be the way we want to strut around to establish the pecking order. “Ugh! I’m the alpha male and I can take on all comers. Raaargh!” Women can be like this also. But, to my limited understanding (me being a male), not in the same way and for different reasons.
As human beings, we obviously don’t know everything. It’s impossible for us to do that. A few hundred years ago, we thought people could be cured of ailments by bleedings, the sun revolved around the earth, and we believed the delusions that people of other races and religions were subhuman or monsters. We, as the human race, have since been proven wrong again and again. What will the future hold? Will people in the year 2207 dust off their ancient history books and laugh at the silly notions we held to be “facts” in 2007?
I’m not going to try to argue for or against evolution, Protestant vs. Catholic, Christian vs. “free thinker”, Marvel vs. DC, tastes great vs. less filling, country vs. western, or anything like that, so don’t bother getting in a huff. I’m just saying that we don’t know everything. New discoveries and new theories happen all the time. I realize that there are some who think they’ve got it all figured out, and I hope they are humbled. I also know that God will humble me when I think I’ve got all the answers, which He’s been known to do on occasion.
My personal belief is in that which is written by God, by way of man, in the Holy Bible. I believe that we aren’t meant to know everything. If we did, we would be God and we’re too flawed for that job. When we die, we’re going to be filled in on a lot of stuff, but God will still be holding the deck.
My beliefs and faith, I realize, don’t jive with some people, even some other Christians, and I’m okay with that. I’m sure in time I’ll find things out that will either add to what I know or will make me rethink things. What I’m writing here I might see as laughable by my future self. As long as I allow God to mold me, and I grow in my understanding, I hopefully can gain wisdom and not just knowledge.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. – 1 Corinthians 1:25
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