Knowing Agape Closes the Gap

UV 1380/10,000 Knowing Agape Closes the Gap
And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
I Corinthians 8 v 2
Our knowledge of God, of ourselves and of the things of the world is at best partial and incomplete. It should not cause us to puff up and feel conceited about our own knowledge and wisdom. We cannot think that we are an authority on any subject least of all the Word of God. Instead, we need to depend on the Author of life and our faith, Jesus. He proved He had authority like no other person. He commanded the winds and waves in storms and they ceased. He commanded the forces of nature and they obeyed. He commanded matter and water transformed into wine. He commanded a fish and it yielded a gold coin to pay His tax dues. He commanded healing of the sick, the leprous, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the ones with chronic incurable diseases and they were instantly healed. He commanded the dead to rise and they came alive. He commanded satan and demonic spirits and these obeyed or departed. He commanded fish into the empty nets of the weary disciples. They had returned to their nets as they did not know Him as they ought to have. He commanded His own dead, pierced, tortured, blood-emptied body to rise from the dead. Such power and knowledge is beyond our understanding. Our knowledge is limited to that of the blind man who was healed and was questioned about who had given authority Jesus to command such healing, he replied, “ That I do not know for sure but this I know, I once was blind but now I can see.” His knowledge was incomplete but his vision was made good and whole. He had an experience of God’s power on account of God’s love.

We do not know the love and power of God as we ought to know. We are not able to size or comprehend the dimensions, the nature, the extent of God’s agape love. We seek to the knowledge and manifestation of God’s power more than we seek the knowledge and manifestation of God’s love. Increasing in theological knowledge does not help us know better. But increasing in applied knowledge of His Word will give us more and more experience of being cured of our inner or spiritual blindness. Wisdom is applied knowledge. It is applying the salve of God or faith on our spiritual eyes to cure us of our cognitive blindness. Paul, the apostle at the height of his ministry wrote of himself that now he knows dimly. His thoughts, feelings and reasoning are likened to those of a child. He confessed his knowledge of God is similar to that of a reflection in a mirror. It was incomplete, partial and not in depth. Knowing that we do not know God’s love as we ought to is not a sign of humility but of godly wisdom. That kind of wisdom causes us to humble ourselves and reverence God and this in turn increases us in wisdom. The more we know the more we will realize how little we know. Paul prayed that we might be enabled to know the length, breadth, height and depth of God’s love. Knowledge is the leader’s edge. The word “know-l-edge” itself holds the secret key – knowing the love of God is the leader’s edge. Such knowledge will not puff us up that we know better than others but it will transform us and make our vision complete. It will positively influence our thoughts, words and deeds. We will know as we ought to know. Knowing agape or God’s love more fully closes the gap.

What we should seek is a moment by moment illumination and experience of God’s grace and love in our lives. It will give no space for us to become vain or proud in our little knowledge. It will build us up in love, faith and hope. What we do not know, we will trust God for that. If He choses to, He will reveal it to us. If He does not, we are content in knowing what we do know. Our lives should be an alternation of love, faith and hope. If love is in the foreground at a particular moment of our experience, faith and hope are in the background. If faith is in the foreground, love and hope are in the background. If hope is in the foreground, faith and love are in the background, bolstering our hope and enabling us to see just a little better. Knowledge is a cognitive activity or left brain activity. Love is an emotional or right brain activity. Connecting the two seemingly opposite poles to be complementary is possible only by knowing agape or God’s love in Christ.

Prateep V Philip