The Contest of the Ages
A Devotion
The Goodsoil Discipleship Ministry
By Bro. Andy Madonio
August 6, 2000
" . . . and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:19
Love vs. Knowledge: How do you feel about this contest -- love vs. knowledge? Which one of these opponents will emerge the victor? The Lord asked Solomon to choose of these two participants, and he chose knowledge, even wisdom, which is knowledge plus experience -- a very potent combination. I wonder, however, what my bible would have said in Ecclesiastes had the young king Solomon asked God to always fill him with the knowledge of God's love, instead of filling him with merely knowledge?
Would the knowledge of God's love, of Christ's love, have kept Solomon from taking Egyptian wives? Egyptian horses? Other foreign wives? Would the love of Jesus have kept Solomon from worshipping other gods, the small, imitation gods of his many heathen wives? I wonder, would the unsurpassed love of Christ Jesus have kept Solomon (and any of us today!) from disobeying, and thereby displeasing the Lord?
Wisdom and knowledge are excellent attributes, make no mistake about that. Yet also know that God has devised some "foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18ff) that is far superior to any wisdom or knowledge. The love of Christ surpasses knowledge. It has zipped on by, and is increasing its margin every second.
Ask God, as the apostle in today's scripture did, to help you to comprehend and see the measure of Christ's love. When you begin -- yes, even when you have just begun -- to glimpse His love, it is then that you will be filled with all His fullness. Is there wisdom and knowledge mixed about in His fullness? More than you can know. The order, the priority, the progression is the thing. Seek first: His kingdom, His love, and His face. Only then will all things next fall into proper alignment. There really is no contest here. The love of Christ is all you need; everything else will follow along supernaturally!
