01/31/2021 Knowledge and Love
Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Lesson “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” We can’t always assume someone else is wrong or bad just because they believe differently and in different ways than we do. If their beliefs do not interfere with our own “essential” (which means absolutely necessary) * beliefs of our faith in God, then it’s not important and we need to just let it go. Only when their beliefs go against our faith in God is it ok to stand up against them and fight if necessary. It is a good thing to learn as much as we can. This is called knowledge and by knowing a lot about many things it helps us to make good choices and have a safe and happy life. The Bible teaches us that we have to be careful how we use the new things we learn. We shouldn’t think that we know everything there is about any subject or think we know more than someone else. The Bible also teaches us that these thoughts are wrong because:
1. When we think we know everything then we stop looking for ways to learn new things.
2. If we think we know more than anyone else, we stop listening to their ideas that might also be able to teach us something new.
When we become so sure that we know everything, our ego takes over and we become “puffed up” and think we are more important or better than others. Next, the Bible tells us how we can fix this. We will stop having these bad thoughts if we make sure we treat everyone with respect by simply loving them. Love makes us better people. It makes us kind and thoughtful of others.
Remember the Bible says “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up”. We must have both knowledge and love to be good people and they are both good things. But which do you think is the most important? Imagine you are holding a balloon and a pile of Lego bricks. The balloon represents knowledge and the Legos are love. Both can be built up, but which is stronger? Try hard to learn all you can to gain knowledge and then let love build you up to be a strong person who respects and loves others. By doing this you will honor God.