7 Christian Principles to Grow Your Faith:

Building a Stronger Trust Series 

Part 2 Knowledge:

In the series opener, we discussed virtue and its relation to faith. We discovered the ways it strengthens our faith and the benefits it brings to our Christian walk. Virtue by itself isn’t enough. To continue growing our faith, we need to go further. Stopping at this point limits faith from reaching its maturity.

Our next step is knowledge.

God created everyone with the ability in reasoning right from wrong. Our Father wants us to understand so we could keep His truth. The Lord knew our minds needed to store and remember His commandments. And His gift of knowledge allows us to comprehend the crucial elements of His parenting.

The freedom of choice God allows is astonishing. He never forces Himself on us, but places us with opportunities where we must choose Him. Knowledge is incredible for it adds insight to our saved lives.

Similar to free will knowledge is a two edge sword.

There is a significant difference between self-knowledge and faith-knowledge.   

In the secular world, we get an up close picture of self-knowledge. Unbelievers thrive on personal importance and intelligence. They believe self-reliance will carry them through everything. Their lives on the outside appear content, but in their hearts are hardened. They respond to life in prideful ways. And when troubles arise, they aren’t wise because Christ isn’t a part of their life.

Another noticeable flaw is their misuse of intelligence. Their perception of the mind is focused on themselves and centered in self-will. They try to place themselves above others and rely on their knowledge to solve problems reserved for God. This demonstration of superiority causes conflicts and blocks out Christ. They use intelligence to figure out old age perplexities, but lack the wisdom in understanding human limitations.

Our experience testifies to the destruction caused by relentless sinning. Our advantage as Christians is Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, we discover the way out of darkness. The Lamb of God has given us the remission of sins. God delivered us from evil and Christ saved us from spiritual death.

Before salvation, we lived in darkness. We were unaware of the subtle ways sin penetrates the soul, hardens the heart and corrupts the mind. Our Messiah promises us once we are reborn Christian-knowledge emerges, and we find God’s wisdom. Then God exposes the narrow way. We understand the path to eternal life and no longer want to rely on ourselves. God’s plan far outweighs anyone we can come up with on our own. We are blessed to have an unconditional loving Father.

Lukewarm Christians (Revelations 3:15-16) have a similar problem as the unbeliever. They have fallen out of God’s favor because their faith is complacent. Spiritual knowledge has eluded them for they are self-deceived. Their belief has shifted from God’s truth and entered a false sense of security. To be rejected by Christ is fatal!

The actions of devotion, prayer, meditation and living the will of God’s unlocks the door to wisdom. Those actions incorporated into your everyday life make you available for the knowledge of Christ’s teachings. We don’t have the wits necessary to stay in God’s kingdom.

It’s through our desire to seek God that we become wise. The more we absorb God’s word into our minds the better we become at remembering our eternal responsibilities here on earth. A continual conscious contact with Christ ensures you the strength to take the correct actions in living a holy life.

It’s fascinating the way this has unfolded in my life. My refusal in placing Christ above everything prevented me from receiving God’s mercy. The biggest lesson I’ve learned from those dark periods is without Christ I’m foolish. Alone, I don’t have the spiritual makeup necessary to make wise decisions. My individual resolutions to problems are disastrous.

It wasn’t until I understood the urgency for life in God’s kingdom I abandoned myself to Christ. And today, when I fall it's easier to pick myself back up for God, is the center of my life. Every day I spend quality time with God because life gets worse without Christ.

Knowledge evolves from faith. There is always something new to learn. The strength it brings to our Christian faith is manifested through humility. A key ingredient of a humble life is remaining teachable. It’s wise to stay receptive to God’s commands for faith will have the spiritual nutrients to grow. An active and mature faith brings everlasting results.

None of us is perfect, nor are we smarter than God. We need Christ’s constant wisdom. Without it, we are aimless, deceived and isolated. With it, we know we are on the right road to heaven.