I love this quote from Kent Nerburn:
So,
along with knowledge, you must seek wisdom. Knowledge is multiple; wisdom is
singular. Knowledge is words; wisdom is silent. Knowledge is standing outside,
understanding what is seen. Wisdom is standing at the center, knowing what is
not seen. No person can be whole without both dimensions of learning.
Remember the words of the musician who was asked which was greater, knowledge
or wisdom. “Without knowledge,” he answered, “I could not play the violin.
Without wisdom, I could not play the music.”
And for some reason it makes me think of this, from Jesus:
God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)What do you think? Is there a connection between wisdom and Spirit, knowledge and Truth? How do we in the church do with encapsulating both sides of those coins?
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2 comments:
Carolyn, you pique the interest with this brief thought provoker!
Those are excellent and insightful quotations. Thanks.
As I see it . . . throwing these ideas into the pot:
~Spirit is essence -- essential being.
~God is spirit -- the Ultimate Essence, from whom and in whom all wisdom and knowledge dwell and are derived*
~Wisdom is intuitive and reflects the appropriate application of cumulative experience to a given situation in a way that is consistent with all that's good and of God, who is the Ultimate Source of all wisdom.
~Truth represents actuality -- that which is consistent with reality.
~[True] knowledge is one's knowing what is consistent with reality about a matter.
~~~
*From a New Testament Christian perspective, of course, it pleased God that in Christ all these treasures are "hidden" / concealed / treasured (Col. 2:3)
~~~
John 4:24 is key to Christian service and worship, if we are ever to serve and worship God in a manner acceptable to Him.
And no, we may often stray from the essentials of the spiritual 'function' and dynamics of worship by majoring on the externals of 'form.'
Spiritual worship requires that we do so with a true and sincere heart, with the wisdom that depends on God Himself for grace (cp. Mat. 5:3).
Essentially, we worship in the spirit and in the knowledge of who He is, through the faculty of our **redeemed spirit, enabled by the Holy Spirit of God Himself.
Hmm, gobbledegook? Getting too long-winded here ... I'll sign off.
** For time and space, taking as a given, redemption through Christ's blood / the Cross, and that He is our "... wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30) etc.
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Helpful definitions, Peter - thank you!
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