7[These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them]; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of the Truth. -2 Timothy 3:7 (AMP)
Knowledge is power! I remember when I was a child coming home after school, I would do my homework and then I could watch TV. At that time, programming and even commercials were geared toward an afterschool age group. I loved Schoolhouse Rock and it stuck with me so much that David bought me a set of the CD’s several years ago. I have even used the catchy tunes in driving home conjunctions while homeschooling my children. I also remember one of the commercials, Knowledge is Power!
Today there is a course, class, certification or degree for just about everything imaginable. People are revered as experts in their fields according to the knowledge that they have, based upon a certain subject. But what is knowledge?
Knowledge is defined as: acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things.
The women in today’s Scripture were “forever inquiring and getting information” and “listening to anybody who would teach them.” Paul further reveals in this letter to Timothy just exactly who these women were getting their information from.
5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. 2 Timothy 3:5
These ever inquiring women were gleaning information from those held a “form of true religion”. A form of true religion?! And Paul was very adamant in his warning to Timothy to not only avoid such people but to turn away from them.
What happens when you don’t have firsthand knowledge about something? You seek out information from someone who does. At that point, it becomes second hand knowledge. So imagine what it becomes as it is passed around? Maybe, is it perhaps a “form of true knowledge”?
Ever hear someone say that there was just enough truth in it to not make it a lie? There is another term for that, it’s called manipulation.
With today’s technologically advanced society, knowledge is literally at one’s fingertips. You can find out what you want to know, about who you want to know, when you want to know it. And if you don’t like the opinion there, you can find a million more at the strike of your keyboard, be it on a phone or laptop.
The question is who is feeding you your information?
Are you getting relationship advice from Oprah Winfrey or maybe Dr. Phil? Are you taking fashion advice from the trash rags at the checkout line in the grocery store? Are your children learning about purity from a sex education class at school that hands them condoms and the address to abortion clinics behind your back?
Are you continuing counseling with someone at Church, even though something inside of you is telling you that something is not right? Are you judging someone at Church based on something you heard from someone else because they are a reliable source of “information”?
I believe the women here were deservedly labeled weak, not because they lacked the ability to gather information. It was what and where they were gathering. And it led them nowhere.
Knowledge is Power!
33Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character.34Awake [from your drunken stupor and return] to sober sense and your right minds, and sin no more. For some of you have not the knowledge of God [you are utterly and willfully and disgracefully ignorant, and continue to be so, lacking the sense of God's presence and all true knowledge of Him]. I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34
Paul here says quite a mouthful! But that was nothing unusual for him. He served God with all the passion that he had originally persecuted the Church and Christ with! How many of us serve God with the energy, passion or even finances we partied with before we were saved?
He states here that they have not the knowledge of God because they are willfully and disgracefully ignorant and continue to be so! They don’t sense God’s presence because they don’t want to. Ouch!
How many of us have looked for that tiny loophole that would allow us to do what we know we shouldn’t but it falls into the category of acceptable? Most Christians are more than content to live in God’s acceptable will, than His perfect will. Then don’t expect perfect results on your acceptable path.
We live in a world where we are taught that we should make choices for ourselves, be independent and that this is self-esteem. The problem is that your choices and the choices of those around you have a ripple effect. Whether you want to accept it or not, they impact someone else as well. I cannot throw a pebble into a pond without it changing the environment of that pond forever. I have stirred the water, possibly the soil and when the muck and murk settle, there will be that pebble that wasn’t there before.
What does this mean and how does it fit together? Knowledge is Power.
What you know, or what you want to know will direct where you go. And you are not on this journey alone.
What you know or what you want to know will cause you to grow. For good or for evil, strength or weakness, you are feeding something.
Knowledge is power. An intimate knowledge of your Savior will never lead you astray. He will bring you healing, hope and guidance for every step of the journey, no matter what you are faced with. And I am pretty certain, if my life is found hidden in Christ, no one will be calling Him a weak woman.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW
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