Is experience better than knowledge?
I was talking with my daughter the other day and if you know Emma - you know that she is incredibly intelligent, she learns in a whole different way than I do. That in itself has been a learning curve for me as parent, for sure. She definitely didn't get her smarts from me either, her dad is extremely intelligent. Anyways, it was about 40 degrees here a couple weeks ago and she wanted to go outside. It was sunny and bright but the wind was brutal. I said "Emma, you need to go get your jacket on, you're going to freeze." "No I won't mom, the sun is out." "Trust me Emma, its cold." "I don't believe you mom, I don't need a jacket," she says in all of her 3 year old gusto and wisdom. "Fine," I reply "you can go outside without your jacket."
About two minutes of playing outside, she runs back into the house "Mom!! I NEED my jacket! I'm soooo cold!" It was obvious by the shade of red her nose and cheeks had turned. This whole little scenario made me chuckle. #1 - she thought she knew better than me and insisted on going her own way (by the way, who tells these little ones that they know all? lol) #2 - she needed to experience on her own, otherwise she would only be obedient because I forced her, not because she understood.
I felt like we both learned a lot that day. I looked at my relationship with the Lord, some of you may have one and some of you may not, but thats besides the point. I looked at how I am with God and was amazed at the correlation. There are so many times I have insisted on my way above His because I feel like I know better. I feel like since I have the knowledge of Him, I am able to make the best decisions for myself. The problem is, only He knows the full story. He sees how cold it is outside. He knows that I would be freezing without a jacket.
I know so many of us know who God is, we talk about Him, we live our lives by a set of rules we think are pleasing to Him. But what I am learning is that is not true relationship - to really know God is to experience Him. To experience His love for you, to trust His way is above your own because you've seen it true in your relationship with Him. I am not saying experience is the only thing we go by either, sometimes we need to fall on the truth whether we have "felt it" or "seen it" in our lives. What I am saying though, is that having an experiential knowledge of God will take you so much further because we've been convinced. We've felt the freezing wind without a jacket. We know that He isn't a liar, we've experienced going our own way and the consequences of it. I challenge you today, ask God to give you an experience of Him. Ask Him to show up in your marriage, in your parenting, in your families. Allow Him to move so that you can have a foundation that is unwavering and not just based off of a mindset but of a heart transformation.
I hope this makes sense! If you want to know God and truly experience Him - reach out to me. I would love to pray with you and watch as He answers.
About two minutes of playing outside, she runs back into the house "Mom!! I NEED my jacket! I'm soooo cold!" It was obvious by the shade of red her nose and cheeks had turned. This whole little scenario made me chuckle. #1 - she thought she knew better than me and insisted on going her own way (by the way, who tells these little ones that they know all? lol) #2 - she needed to experience on her own, otherwise she would only be obedient because I forced her, not because she understood.
I felt like we both learned a lot that day. I looked at my relationship with the Lord, some of you may have one and some of you may not, but thats besides the point. I looked at how I am with God and was amazed at the correlation. There are so many times I have insisted on my way above His because I feel like I know better. I feel like since I have the knowledge of Him, I am able to make the best decisions for myself. The problem is, only He knows the full story. He sees how cold it is outside. He knows that I would be freezing without a jacket.
I know so many of us know who God is, we talk about Him, we live our lives by a set of rules we think are pleasing to Him. But what I am learning is that is not true relationship - to really know God is to experience Him. To experience His love for you, to trust His way is above your own because you've seen it true in your relationship with Him. I am not saying experience is the only thing we go by either, sometimes we need to fall on the truth whether we have "felt it" or "seen it" in our lives. What I am saying though, is that having an experiential knowledge of God will take you so much further because we've been convinced. We've felt the freezing wind without a jacket. We know that He isn't a liar, we've experienced going our own way and the consequences of it. I challenge you today, ask God to give you an experience of Him. Ask Him to show up in your marriage, in your parenting, in your families. Allow Him to move so that you can have a foundation that is unwavering and not just based off of a mindset but of a heart transformation.
I hope this makes sense! If you want to know God and truly experience Him - reach out to me. I would love to pray with you and watch as He answers.
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