“Since the days we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9)
Knowledge, wisdom and understanding are the three elements of intelligence that make us human beings superior to all forms of existence on the earth. They are not the same at all.
Knowledge is what we know. Measured in I.Q., it sums up the facts we have learned and stored up in our memory banks. You may recall examples of those blessed with vast knowledge and the ability to learn and assimilate multitudes of facts. We consider them to be the luckiest people we know, with the greatest potential for success in any field they care to pursue; but that truism is often flawed. We all may recall friends, classmates or family members who had breezed through the schools they had attended almost without studying, or else they were the types who relished learning for its own sake. They were the top of the class, the most brilliant of students, those who without fail would ace their exams. Their SAT scores propelled them into the universities of their choice. They advanced in their chosen fields, and yet in the world beyond academia they made a mess of their lives. Gifted with intelligence, somehow they found ways to flounder and fail in the real world. Spouses were helpless to lead them out of their frustration and even depression. Concerned parents stood by helpless to do much about the trauma of failure and the cycle of job loss, relocation and the same negative results. How could it happen? Knowledge without wisdom doesn’t lead to success.
On the other hand there were those, oh so many, who passed through their school years and in later life incognito. Ten years later few classmates could point them out in the yearbook. They only sat among their peers and watched as the rewards and honors were bestowed on the highest and brightest. They went through the grades and onto graduation without once bringing home the “Proud Parent of…” sticker to adorn the back bumper of a mother’s van. A sensible parent will, however, find joy in a child who doesn’t rush headlong into marriage before she feels ready, searches and finds steady solid employment and works out a sensible way of life. Such a person makes choices based not on whim or impulse, but by thinking through the implications of each life decision based on need, finances, and opportunities for the future. These types would call it basic instinct, but it’s more—it’s wisdom, a way of life based on choices freed of emotions, pressure from others, and separation from the allure of advertisements and the impulses of the moment. Such a person is in touch with the deep ground of inner self and has discovered the hidden true person beneath the glitter and clutter of the culture imposing itself on them.
Understanding is the awareness of the difference between knowledge and wisdom, or rather applying known facts to memory and instinct. Those who search for meaning by piling up knowledge whether in research libraries or book stores with shelves stocked with “how to,” “Dummies,” and escapist fiction may never discover the wisdom deep within, hidden in the soul. Those who live by inner instinct shrug and say it’s nothing more than common sense. Understanding in St. Paul’s epistle implies so much more. It captures the gifts of both knowledge and wisdom, making use of them for the greater glory of God. We sense this in his prayer that the Colossians and we also will discover and enhance both those kinds of truth and offer them up to the loving Lord who blessed us with all three forms of thought.