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In the great march of religious humanity is the "striving for mastery" in intellectual knowledge of God. Great institutions of learning have produced great men and women of God through the centuries. There have been others who have sought for deeper esoteric insights through external disciplines. Yet the more they tried to know God, the further they went away from Him in heart. We are grateful to God for many of these deeper insights that we could never know for ourselves as we set out to "understand and know" God.
I can honestly say for myself that I enjoyed deeper studies. I attained and acquired good, rich depths of understanding from theologians and other disciplines. I do not regret any of it. But after a long time, I missed God. I missed the simple dwelling in Him, in His word like a field of flowers and rich pasturelands. There is a dark side to it though. I have seen people become so full of intellectual knowledge, sciences, disciplines, languages and doctrines, that there is only a cold dead heart in them. There is no heat or light in them.
They fight among themselves, trying to prove their doctrines. They "bite and devour one another." Ego and great pride become master. There is no life-giving flow, no evidence of the pure, rich, love and life of Jesus Christ. "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords." I say this to make a point. All that collective knowledge is fine, but it does not make anyone closer to Christ at all.
I think that those that are so full of His love and His Spirit are those whom the world looks at as uneducated and foolish. I think the higher learning becomes nothing at the end of a persons life but something more like an old storage shed filled with years of dusty clutter. I have heard of old scholars on their death beds who want nothing else than the presence of God embodied in eternal love. Like C.S. Lewis said on his death bed to one of his dearest friends, that his mind was tired and only wanted to talk and hear about Jesus.
During life when there there is a crisis how does higher learning help? How does any of that higher intellectual knowledge help the poor and needy? I think so much is lost in millions of lives of sincere believers because they deem themselves unqualified and unworthy to do anything. They live their entire lives in the shadows of the discounted masses. What everyone needs to know right now, and the sooner the better, is that God KNOWS YOU. He has been with you all along. The reality of His living in you, surrounding you, and never ever leaving you should be the solid, beautiful rest to enter into. Time to let out a deep breathe. You do not have to earn it or be qualified for it. He is already with you simply because He loves you unfathomably and unsearchably. It is a simple beautiful truth you can rest your head upon like the pillow Jesus did on that stormy night. "Acquaint yourselves now with Him and be at peace."
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