It would appear that we know quite a lot. A lot, and we know it. As some of the older generation constantly grumble/exclaim, “these days kids can get the answer to anything right on their phone!” They are right. All the knowledge of the world is right at the tip of the fingers, (or thumbs, sick! who uses their fingers on their phone?!) Yet today a flicker of a light bulb buzzed and managed to come on in my mind —
hmmm, maybe i should stall a bit longer to adequately build the suspense.
That ought to be enough.
— Our knowledge is largely secondhand. Now, i’m not attacking secondhand knowledge any more than i’m attacking secondhand thrift stores (yet there are times when my wife has been in there quite long enough and, well) but the fact of the matter (as a matter of fact) remains that most of our knowledge is of the secondary sort.
It’s pretty amusing how many things we “know for a fact” about, say, bugs before we have ourselves observed them. This whole thought spawned (i would that no one ever used this word) from the other day when i happened upon a snail. i didn’t directly come upon him, for which i’m sure he was grateful, but i did step up and see him very closely. i had time, (not really, but i took it anyway) so i crouched down and watched him close for a riveting 7 minutes, and about 4 inches. i fancy this would be a favorable time for some positive minded person to insert a correlation about the snail and endurance but i don’t have the patience for something like that. ;) While i was watching, it came to me that if i never took the time to see how slow a snail was, i’d never really know. i mean really know.
We know things. But not really.
We are funny beings, aren’t we? We learn something and then tend to stand behind it as if we were the one who discovered it, even ready to duke it out (on social media, of course) with any nincompoop who dares to contradict us! Yet all the while, we’ve never taken the time to see how slow the snail actually is. We were right in saying he was slow, he is, after all, a snail; but now that we’ve watched him for 4 inches of our life, we can say it with a little more assurance, and a little less arrogance. Now we know, firsthand.
Today i saw some fruit trees in the jungle mountains of Japan. The trees were (and likely still are) short and i could see the old farmers meticulously pruning them. Fact: Meticulous is squared to the ‘enth degree in Japan. End of fact. i didn’t know what kind of trees they were. So i did what any millennial would, i looked it up online (the last word there is completely dispensable but allow us to accommodate to those who aren’t attached 24/7 to an IV of 4G.) So i looked it up, in the encyclopedia. BAHAHAHAAHA! * Ahem. *
The trees, back to the trees. Now i know. But not really. My knowledge is shallow. It’s as deep as Google. i know nothing of how to coax the tree into producing more fruit, or where to plant it. But i could find out (also available online) and then i would know. But still, not really. Until i have labored painstakingly to plant, prune, nourish, and harvest fruit from these trees like the 85 year old farmers have, i won’t really know.
That’s all i mean. Secondhand knowledge is fantastic. It makes for a lot fewer mistakes the first twenty times around. Building off of the shoulders of others has brought us to where we are (judge how you will). :) There’s nothing wrong at all with secondhand knowledge. It’s easier! There’s nothing wrong at all with secondhand clothes. They’re cheaper! But perhaps we could make some of our own clothes from time to time. We could really know what they’re like, what they're made of. Let’s knit some socks darn it!
Chuckle chuckle… darn… socks… chuckle.
The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus (as if there were only one beauty) is that we all can really know it. Really, know it. We, each of us who know, know firsthand the fruit of believing in the Words of Jesus. We know because He has changed us. We know because we’ve wrestled with our own thoughts and previous “known things” and we’ve submitted them to Jesus. We’ve not just hung our hat on a positive thinking book, but we’ve tasted and seen that He is Good. Our hands have handled the Word of Life, evident in the transformation that It’s done to our spirit, soul, and actions.
How wonderful of the Lord to invite us to know Him. Personally. Firsthand. And His Hand is outstretched.
Good to know!
