What We Know

Traveling, knowledge-ology, and the beauty of common grace.

I’m halfway through a two-week trip, so this installment will be slightly shorter.

You’re welcome.

I attended a counseling conference this past weekend. Valuable information and practical knowledge was presented to students and practitioners alike. Learning flourishes when ideas are accessible and taught with clarity. It’s the best.

The joy of learning can get stifled when education is more challenging than it needs to be. When I went back to school in my late 30s, I spent half my time consulting a dictionary to comprehend the assigned reading. Could there have been a simpler way? Maybe; maybe not. However, because of my experience, I learned not to assume what is or is not “common knowledge.”

Over taco bowls Saturday night with my North Carolina family, I shared about one of the sessions that focused on epistemology (the theory of knowledge) as it pertains to common grace (God’s goodness to all) and special grace (God’s saving grace to those who believe in Him). I got scolded for saying a naughty-sounding word at the dinner table. 😏 Until this weekend, I forgot what epistemology meant. I still have to look up which ology means what.

While telling my 9-year-old niece that epistemology describes how and why we can know what we know, and that there are a lot of words that end in ology, my 13-year-old nephew chimed in. “Ology means ‘the study of,’” he said, with a satisfied grin on his face. Color me impressed!

…and still have those thighs.” — Caro, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

No created being can identify truth apart from God’s common grace. Everything that can be known is ultimately from God. So regardless of who makes a discovery — on purpose or by accident, man or woman, unbeliever or follower of Jesus — God is the Author of everything that can be known on this earth. Deuteronomy 29:29 affirms this: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (NIV).

We are responsible for stewarding the information entrusted to us with wisdom and humility.

Ironically, Pastor Scott Sauls posted here on Substack on the topic of common grace this weekend. His words echo what encouraged me most about the conference:

While it is true that not all are reconciled to God through Christ, it is also true that all people bear His image. This means that goodness, wisdom, and creativity are not the exclusive property of Christians…

Instead of isolating ourselves, common grace calls us to collaborate. It invites us to recognize that all people, regardless of belief, have something valuable to contribute. It urges us to build bridges rather than walls.

God is all-knowing (or omniscient to use a fancy word). He says, “for every animal of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is Mine” (Psalm 50:10-12 HCSB). This truth is grounding, or maybe it’s sobering.

Knowledge can be sneaky, making us think pretty highly of ourselves — “yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him, and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him” (1 Corinthians 8:6 CSB).

This is totally a 30,000 foot brain dump. For now, I’ll leave it here and thank God that I know who He is, and I am known by Him.

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The Fortnightly

A bi-weekly offering of music, good food, interesting reading, and a moment that needed capturing.

TUNES

I’ve had the joy of singing worship songs with three different groups over the past few weeks. “Promises” was highlighted at each gathering and I’m not sad about it.

ON THE MENU

I introduced my folks to chicken and waffles during my visit with them. We used this Bisquick Waffles recipe from My Baking Addiction, baked Tyson brand Crispy Chicken Strips, and topped it all with pure maple syrup. It was a hit! Now where’s a salad…

READING

I recently finished three books but haven’t had a chance to properly summarize or review them yet. Forthcoming…

THE MOMENT

My mom and dad have an oasis of a backyard. Their bird feeders are two stories high so they can see them from their living room window or the screened in porch. I think they might have the hungriest birds in the neighborhood because my dad has to fill the feeders about once a week using a ladder. Being in their home and watching the refill process made my heart full.

There are three feeders attached to this post!

Be well, friends.