Know Him to Know Him

I've always been somebody who needs to understand what I'm being asked to believe. I ask questions, research things, look for context, and want to know why something is true instead of accepting it because somebody told me it is. That part of my personality didn't disappear when I became a Christian, and over time I've realized it didn't need to. Christianity doesn't require us to shut off our brains to strengthen our faith. Scripture repeatedly calls us to know God, study His Word, grow in wisdom, and become mature enough to recognize truth when the world hands us something that only sounds like it.

For someone like me who thrives on education and learning, that mattered tremendously. I didn't need another person telling me to “just have faith” when I still had questions I hadn't worked through. I needed to study Scripture, understand its context, learn how the different books fit together, ask difficult questions, and become more educated about what Christians actually believe and why we believe it. There's an important difference between knowing information about God and knowing God personally, and academic knowledge can never replace a relationship with Him, but that doesn't make biblical knowledge unimportant. The more I learned about God, the more I realized how much I didn't know, and instead of pushing me away from Him, that realization pulled me deeper.

Psalm 119:32 (ESV) says, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!” That's an important correction from how I previously understood this verse because the ESV doesn't say God “broadened my understanding.” The psalmist is describing a heart enlarged by God that responds with greater obedience. Knowledge matters, but biblical knowledge isn't supposed to end with having more information in our heads. If studying Scripture doesn't eventually affect how we live, love, lead, speak, forgive, serve, and obey, we've missed the point.

That's especially convicting for people who love learning because knowledge can become its own form of pride. We can know theology, quote Scripture, understand historical context, explain doctrine, and still be spiritually immature. Biblical education should make us more humble because every layer we uncover reminds us how limited our understanding really is. Proverbs 3:5 (ESV) says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” God isn't condemning learning or critical thinking there. He's correcting the arrogance of believing our own understanding is sufficient.

That distinction matters when we're representing Christ because confidently repeating something inaccurate doesn't make it true. 2 Timothy 4:3 isn't specifically a warning about accidentally sharing false testimony. Paul is warning Timothy that a time will come when people “will not endure sound teaching” and will instead gather teachers who tell them what they want to hear. That's actually an even stronger argument for Christians knowing Scripture well. If we don't know what God's Word says, we're vulnerable to accepting whatever sounds biblical, feels encouraging, confirms what we already believe, or comes from somebody with enough charisma to make it convincing.

God also knows exactly how we're wired, and part of my own journey involved recognizing that He wasn't asking me to become a different kind of thinker before I could know Him. Pursuing graduate study in Christian Ministry gave me a structured environment to study Scripture, theology, ministry, and the foundations of the faith more seriously. I wouldn't claim that God required me to earn a certificate before I could have a relationship with Him because salvation doesn't depend on education, intellectual ability, or academic credentials. What I can say is that God used education powerfully in my life because He met somebody who needed to ask questions, study, investigate, and understand, and He used those things to draw me closer rather than demanding that I abandon them at the door.

That's one of the things I love most about looking back at my faith journey. God met me where I was, but He didn't leave me there. He took my need to understand and used it to teach me that I'll never understand everything. He took my questions and used them to deepen my faith. He took something that could've become intellectual pride and continues teaching me that knowing more about Scripture should make me increasingly aware of how dependent I am on Him.

Paul's story also deserves some clarification because he wasn't converted through an academic process of studying until he finally figured Jesus out. Acts 9 describes something much more dramatic. Paul, then called Saul, was actively persecuting Christians when the risen Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus. Paul was already highly educated in Judaism, but all of that knowledge hadn't led him to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. His encounter with Christ completely reordered what he thought he knew, and his existing education was eventually brought under the authority of the truth he'd received.

There's a lesson in that for those of us who value education. Knowledge is powerful, but knowledge alone doesn't save us. You can't research yourself into salvation, earn enough degrees to become righteous, or study enough theology to eliminate your need for grace. Ephesians 2:8 (ESV) says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Education can help us understand our faith, defend it, communicate it responsibly, and recognize bad theology, but Jesus saves us, not our ability to explain Jesus.

That same balance matters when we bring faith into athletics. I believe coaches and athletes should know what they believe instead of throwing Bible verses onto sports situations because the wording sounds motivational. Scripture isn't a collection of locker room quotes, and we shouldn't twist passages about persecution, salvation, suffering, obedience, or God's promises into guarantees that we'll win matches, recover from injuries, earn scholarships, or accomplish athletic goals. If we're going to represent Christ in sports, we have a responsibility to handle His Word with more care than that.

The connection between biblical knowledge and athletic performance also needs to be kept in its proper place. Knowing God more deeply doesn't guarantee you'll become a better volleyball player, run faster, jump higher, coach more wins, or perform better under pressure. Christianity isn't a performance enhancement program. What growing in biblical knowledge can change is the person competing. Scripture can shape how we respond to adversity, success, failure, teammates, coaches, opponents, officials, pressure, disappointment, recognition, and everything else sports expose in us.

That's where knowledge starts becoming visible.

The athlete who knows Scripture but treats teammates terribly isn't demonstrating spiritual maturity. The coach who can quote the Bible but humiliates athletes when they're frustrated has a disconnect between knowledge and obedience. The Christian competitor who praises God after victories but becomes bitter, disrespectful, or impossible to coach after losses needs more than another Bible study. We aren't called to collect information about Christ while remaining unchanged by Him.

James 1:22 (ESV) says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” That's where biblical education has to lead. Study more, absolutely, but then live differently because of what you've learned. Ask questions, understand context, learn theology, challenge assumptions, and don't be afraid to admit when you've misunderstood something. At the same time, don't become so impressed with what you know that you forget why you're learning it.

For me, education became an important bridge in my relationship with God, but the bridge was never supposed to become the destination. The goal isn't being able to say I know more about Christianity than I did yesterday. The goal is knowing God more deeply, handling His Word more faithfully, recognizing my dependence on Him more clearly, and representing Christ more accurately in the places He's given me influence.

Knowledge should produce more than answers. It should produce humility, discernment, obedience, and a life increasingly capable of showing other people that what we claim to believe has actually changed the way we live.