River Banks

 

Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Philippians 1:9 says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;”

I have a tendency to go ahead and do things based upon just enough information to see the need but not all of the consequences. In the past, I would see a lot of people making a request for backing in one way or another and my instant response would be in the affirmative but then as time went on, the need would not be the same in my own heart. There should be times when the item in question is examined. A true story was about a missionary who wanted to raise money for a “nail making machine” in order to construct a boat in order to reach a tribe on a nearby island. What was not known nor expressed by the same missionary, was that a ferry boat would go to that same island twice a day, thus making the need for a nail machine for boat construction not necessary.

1. We advocate love a lot in the Christian faith and it is certainly important as I have mentioned so many times. It truly is “righteous acts to meet the needs of another.” Paul makes an interesting point in the above passage. “Love” is mentioned in connection with two other characteristics, knowledge and judgment. It compares love to a river with two banks, one named judgment and the other named knowledge. Both are needed but we often overlook the banks of this “river” and let it go on its merry way without examining the banks of the river. To be aware of something does not make it necessarily something we should be taking part in, and so judgment is necessary also. The narrative about the nail machine was good and gave the listener the knowledge about the need, but did not disclose that there might be another way to bring the gospel to the tribe on the nearby island. I once made aware of a person who could not pay their rent and so was moved to assist that person only to find out later that the person's rent was paid for by the government. I did not have all of the knowledge about the situation, only a part of it, which was true but not necessary. The use of the ferryboat would be cheaper and more effective and instantly available than raising money to purchase a machine to make nails. The Philippians had given much to Paul's ministry. They even gave so much that at one point, they might be lacking themselves and Paul reminded them that God would supply their needs even in that situation. We often say that we will pray about a situation and that is good advice. In most cases, a true need will still be there. We unfortunately live in a culture that is plagued with “scammers” who are out to get money from unsuspecting people any way that they can. Praise God today for both knowledge and judgment.