Tag: love

In this is love.

Posted on by Michael Wine

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52

How can God become a man? How can the infinitely wise increase in wisdom?

The Son of God, the Word, God Himself, joined himself to human DNA strands, and wrapped himself up in the flesh and mind and frailty of a human baby.

The all-powerful became suddenly helpless. The invincible became vulnerable. The self-sufficient one became instantly dependent on his mother and father.

It strikes me as almost blasphemy if it did not actually take place – if it were not the most glorious, wondrous display of my Lord’s heart. Because I know he did it for me, a flawed and sinful human, whose only hope was for God to humble himself and save me.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

True and False Knowledge

Posted on by Michael Wine

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 1 Corinthians 8:2

There is a kind of knowing that is not self conscious. It causes us to act in service of others. It is an aid of love.

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 1 Corinthians 8:1

There is a kind of knowledge that looks at itself, like someone obsessed with his own reflection. It ponders its own qualities. It congratulates itself on its brilliance, depth, and breadth.

The first kind of knowledge is real knowledge, because it produces real actions of love toward other people. In the Bible, knowledge is never far from the actions of love. Love and knowledge go hand in hand.

The second kind of knowledge, the one that thinks about itself, is false knowledge, because it prevents loving action from happening. It “puffs up” because it is full of air. It looks impressive, but there is nothing real behind it. There is no love there.

The person who thinks about how much he knows “does not yet know as he ought to know.” There is a way of knowing, then, that we ought to follow. And that is the way that supports and aids loving action. It is outward knowledge, focused on how to better love others.