In the movie Forbidden
Kingdom, starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, a young boy nags Chan about all
the legendary Kung Fu moves that he wants to learn. Annoyed, Jackie Chan begins
to fill the cup in the boy’s hands with hot water to the point of overflow.
With burning hands from the spilling water, the boy urges Chan to stop, telling
him that his cup is already full. To this, Jackie Chan responds, “exactly, how can your cup be filled if it
is already full?”
How can your cup be filled if it is already full? It
can’t. It must first be emptied. The young boy needed to forget about all those
fancy moves he had heard about and seen and practiced in the mirror as a kid,
and he had to be willing to learn from scratch. Then and only then, could the
young boy move forward and learn the art of Kung Fu.
Many of us pray that God will use us according to His
will. We constantly proclaim a desire to be used as vessels for the Kingdom.
However, when we are met with the process of forgetting what we know, we
sometimes throw in the towel. How could God possibly ask me to let go of the
knowledge that has cost me plenty of blood, sweat, and tears? Just like that?
All those years of schooling, and all those experiences that shape my thinking?
You just want me to toss it out, just like that?
It’s
truly a heavy task that might make us wonder how all-knowing God actually is. I
mean, if You knew You were going to ask me to toss away years of experiences,
why didn’t You just step in and stop me from wasting all that time? Although these
questions and concerns may appear valid, when I look at Scripture, I quickly
realize how short-sighted these claims are.
Let’s take Moses for example. Remember when God told
Moses to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground (Exodus 3:5). If you
are not familiar with this story, I encourage you to have a read (Exodus 2-4). God’s
request to Moses is quite interesting. I mean, churches for the most part don’t
take that command literally. Otherwise, we should all be in church barefoot. So
if it’s not really about the shoes, heels, or sandals we have on, what is it
that God calls us to remove when we encounter Him in such a way? Could there be
a deeper message hidden within this seemingly simple command?
Moses’ sandals had been through some things. They’d
seen a lot of places, touched many ground types. They were probably with him in
Pharaoh’s house and as he was making his initial getaway from Egypt. Basically,
in all the places that Moses stepped, he learned some things and saw some
things that added to his overall knowledge and understanding. And perhaps, his
sandals were a representation of all that acquired knowledge. What if God
didn’t really care that Moses was wearing sandals on holy ground? What if God’s
focus was all that Moses knew or better yet, thought he knew? What if God was
really saying, “Moses, forget everything you know, for the place on which you
are standing is holy ground.”
Moses was probably the worst person for the mission
God was calling him to embark on. Think about it. Here’s someone who grew up in
Pharaoh’s courts, who knows the ins and the outs of keeping Egypt running. If
anyone knew how impossible it would be to convince Pharaoh to let the
Israelites go, it would be Moses. He of all people understood that those Hebrew
slaves had become a major source of economic stability for Egypt. Nevertheless,
God was commissioning him to embark on mission impossible. But first, Moses
would need to forget all that he knew. He needed to realize that yes, “with man
this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
This is far from easy. Maybe God is calling you to a
career path that makes no sense. Maybe God is calling you to take a step of
faith that feels like a huge gamble. Maybe God is calling you to say goodbye to
some people who you feel indebted to. Maybe God is calling you to a task that
you consider yourself inadequate to accomplish. Maybe God’s call is falling on
deaf ears because you know too much, or at least, you think you do, and you’d
rather hold on to that knowledge than trust Him.
In the gospel according to John, Jesus invites Philip
to follow him. Excited, Philip runs to his brother Nathanael and tells him that
he has “found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and about whom the prophets
also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45) At first,
Nathanael is unable to receive this news; “Nazareth! Can anything good come
from there?” (John 1:46) That was the curse of many of the Israelites. They
“knew” too much and could not accept Jesus as who He said He was, God sent and
God Himself (John 30:30).
"But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ." - Galatians 1:11-12
My
prayer is that we do not make the same mistake. I pray that we do not “know” so
much that we miss an opportunity to be utilized by God for work that is beyond
us. I pray that we do not “know” so much that we allow our logical hesitations
to get in the way of God’s plan for our lives. I pray that we do not become so
concerned with facts that we miss the truth. I pray that we do not become so
consumed by academic knowledge, that we unknowingly reject revealed knowledge
brought by the Holy Ghost. I pray that we do not become addicted to evidence-based
theories that we ignore faith based revelations. I pray that our religious
upbringing, whatever it might be, does not get in the way of us coming to terms
with the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
For many, that last one may have stung a bit. And you
might think to yourself, there is no way I can come to terms with that. There’s
way too much to lose. I would bring shame to my family, they would disown me,
and I’d literally lose everything. God is no stranger to great cost, and the
potential loss you might experience for choosing to follow Him. It was with
great cost that He gave us the opportunity to choose Him. As sharp as it might
be, I pray that you are encouraged by this truth; “Anyone who loves their father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross
and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and
whoever loses their life FOR MY SAKE will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)
With God, what appears to us as loss turns out to be
gain, so take a chance. Forget what you “know”, walk by faith, and receive
revealed knowledge, true wisdom, and divine understanding. Put aside your doubts
and hesitations, then come and taste and see for yourself, that the Lord is good.
Peace and Love,
David
Wow! That is a word. The process of unlearning what you know is hard but at the end of the day though you will still need that old knowledge it will be subject to the supreme revealed knowledge of God. God bless you bro! Missing you...
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