ICS Daily Devotions
Which Knowledge Is Your Faith Built On?
If it is true that every Christian who knows God experiences peace and grace, then why don’t some Christians experience these? The peace and grace that are multiplied to us in this passage by Apostle Peter:
2 Peter 1:2.May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
It depends on the kind of knowledge that we build our faith on, namely “human knowledge” or “spiritual knowledge”.
Human knowledge is the kind of knowledge man thinks he is able to achieve without God. However, faith cannot be established based on human knowledge alone. It is possible to memorize the entire Bible and still not know God. This was the problem with the religious rulers in Jesus’ time and the early churches because of the Hellenistic influence.
The Greeks sought God through philosophical speculations and mystical experiences which hindered them from knowing God personally. We are currently influenced by the period of enlightenment which has its guiding principle in the power of human reasoning to ascertain truth. Authority no longer resides in the Bible or the Church, but in the reasoning and conscience of the individual enquirer.
If a Christian tries to use the mind to understand the ways of God, then they will likely stay in the religion mode rather than progressing in a relationship with God. They will use philosophical deductive reasoning, rather than building their faith on the inspiration and authority of God’s Word. They will be loving their Christian life from the outside-in instead of inside-out! This sort of knowledge hinders their knowledge of God or knowing God at a personal level.
The other knowledge is spiritual knowledge, which comes from God revealing Himself through knowing, walking with Him and experiencing Him in our daily living. It begins with approaching God humbly when we seek to know Him. We have to submit to the revelation of God as He chose to reveal Himself to us through the Bible, as well as the general revelation through His creation of the world. We have to accept the inspiration and the authority of the Bible.
Apostle Peter stressed that true knowledge of God is found in Christ and the Scriptures. It is to have a personal and daily relationship with God, being intimate with Him that everything can be shared openly with Him. It starts with the knowledge of God and progresses to knowing Him. Fellowship grows deeper with trust, nothing else. Everything begins with faith. Human knowledge alone can hinder your faith. We need to build our faith on spiritual knowledge instead.
Sermon Series: Knowing God
