The Difference Between Wisdom and Knowledge 5

This same spiritual principle, the difference between wisdom and knowledge, applies to people in the church as well as to the lost. It applies to everyone simply because it is a spiritual principle. I call them universal life lessons. They apply to everyone. Everywhere. All the time. Every time.

Unfortunately, we see this simple life lesson being more and more frequently abandoned by people in the church. It is the sole cause of all kinds of deception, division, and confusion among God’s people.

2 Peter 2:20-22

 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. (NKJV)

This passage deals with false teachers in the body of Christ, the church. They know the truth, but they have ceased fearing the Lord. They rely on their intellect and education rather than seeking the God Who gave them their knowledge, and in doing so they turn from following Him. They no longer think they need God’s wisdom because they have knowledge! By turning from God they have rejected His wisdom, and it’s His wisdom alone which enables them to use knowledge rightly (Proverbs 15:2).

The ONLY Solution

The difference between wisdom and knowledge is crystal clear. It is seen in Scripture. It is seen in real-life examples. It is a spiritual principle, a universal life lesson that we all desperately need to heed. The events we see happening all around us testify to the truth of the need to know the difference between wisdom and knowledge!

So then, how can we be sure we’re operating in wisdom? The answer, of course, is found in the Word of God, the Bible.

Prov 2:10-17

When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11 discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked; 15 whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths; 16 To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, 17 who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God. (NKJV)

As we continue to seek God He will give us both the wisdom and the knowledge we need to stand in His presence. We will know what is from God and what is counterfeit. We will operate in wisdom as we walk with the Lord, and even if we make mistakes He is big enough, strong enough, and wise enough, to enable us to overcome those mistakes. We can trust Him to make things right!

We only need to keep seeking Him, and as we do so we will discover, more and more, the difference between wisdom and knowledge.