Knowledge is Good But. . . .

I found a post over at Radical Catholic Mom that I liked very much. This particular quote really made me think:

"Our gratitude towards Christ for His sacrifice SHOULD propel us to tell everyone how blessed we are and to invite them to receive the same gift."

Maybe you can relate to this - I have a strong desire to learn more and more about my faith. Most of the time that is a good thing but as with all good things they can be skewed to hinder us in our path towards God. (Think, Screwtape Letters!) Let me explain. At times, I have found myself using this whole "knowledge" thing as an excuse to NOT share my faith with others. I find myself falling back on the excuse that that I don't know enough to engage in an evangelical conversation.
This is, by no means, an excuse to stop the intellectual part of my faith journey. But any "lack of knowledge" should also not be an excuse to shy away from sharing my faith.

My mother used to tell me that the way in which we live should be a testament to our faith. Our choices, our personalities, our demeanor should shine with love for God. She said, "People always notice who you are and how you act. They may not always listen to what you say."She was a smart lady!

And, I need to remember that I am not required by God to know all the intellectual answers. It is OK to say, "I don't know," when asked those intricate questions that sometimes get asked -- "What is something called, where did a certain custom come from, where exactly is that in the Bible, etc."


Although I encourage you to read the post in its entirety, here are some more excerpts from Radical Catholic Mom's post. She points out another way the accumulation of knowledge can be skewed to our detriment.

"I thought I would do a crash course reminder of our Catholic mission.

#1) Our job is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our gratitude towards Christ for His sacrifice SHOULD propel us to tell everyone how blessed we are and to invite them to receive the same gift.

When we look at WHO Jesus chose to be his Apostles they were not the learned of society. They were not philosophers nor theologians. They were fishermen. Were His disciples much better from an intellectual perspective? Not quite. I am sure there was an educated person thrown in there from time to time (like the tax collector or the Roman Centurion) but for the most part the Scriptures show us that what is important from the world’s perspective is NOT what is important to God.

Am I saying that knowledge is NOT important? Nope. Not at all, but I am saying that knowledge can give us false confidence. We think “Oh yes, I KNOW my theology thus I am a BETTER Catholic than so and so” who believes this particular way (which may indeed go against our Faith.) And then God gives us someone in our life who tests NOT our knowledge but our CHARITY. And the truth of WHO we really are comes to the forefront and we have to return to the Sacrament of Confession AGAIN."

In re-reading this I find another quote from her post that is so true,

"What is important from the world’s perspective is NOT what is important to God."

I encourage you to read the post in its entirety.