Article: KNOWLEDGE vs WISDOM | Bibin Thankachan, UK
The famous British journalist Miles Kingdon once said – Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Not much explanation is required to distinguish between these two words.
It is this wisdom that the modern generation lacks. They have their knowledge. They know what to do, they know how to react, they know how to talk and they know how to worship God. But let’s take a moment to think – are they being guided by their knowledge or wisdom?
Psalm 111 guides us through the Christian way to distinguish between these two words.
We have the knowledge to go to church whenever we have a meeting, sing along, clap in a group and pray. Yet we lack the wisdom to understand ourselves if we do these things with ALL OUR HEART. Knowing to go to the church to worship God is our knowledge and doing the same with all our heart is our wisdom.
In the beginning God created heaven and the earth – This is the basic knowledge that a Christian should have in his life. We remember Shah Jahan when we see the Taj Mahal. We might remember an ancient king whenever we see a palace – this is because those constructions remain as a memorial for the respective person. Knowing that God created the trees, the animals, the water, you, and I is our knowledge. And understanding that these creations are a memorial to remember the glory of God is your wisdom. This means we should always remember God whenever we open our eyes, hear something, touch anything, speak about anything and smell anything.!
God has made many covenants with man, including you and me. Keeping these things in our mind and going ahead expecting something is our knowledge. Knowing that these covenants are remembered by God himself and these are for fulfilment to express the love of God towards us, or mankind is our Wisdom! Praising God every moment for Him remembering the covenants is our wisdom!
While we move further on in Psalm 111, we can see some other comparisons between knowledge and wisdom. Understanding that we own a home or a vehicle or whatever it may be, and we bought it with our money is our knowledge. Knowing that none of these was owned by us and these were handed over to us by God from ‘other nations’ is our wisdom. Knowing that the Bible is a holy book and there are many commandments in the book is our knowledge and understanding that every word written is trustworthy and is established for ever and ever is our wisdom.
Knowing that we have a God, and he has a powerful name is our knowledge, and understanding that this powerful name can do powerful things and can even move mountains is our wisdom. Understanding that this powerful name has the power to control angels in his finger snaps is our wisdom. Knowing that this powerful name will be coming back to earth to take you and me along with him is our wisdom.
We need this wisdom in every second of our life. This wisdom can be continued in life when we begin to practice it. Well, how could we begin to practice this wisdom in life? There is a clearcut self-explanatory statement in the same chapter which says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”
Let this fear be a practice in our life, let this fear lead our feet to places wherever we go, let this fear control our hands in things whatever we do, let this fear control our mouth on whatever we speak, let this fear control our mind on whatever we think. When we have this fear, we have our WISDOM, and we will no more put a tomato in a fruit salad!
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