knowing

i am reading calvin's institutes for my doctrine of God class. its hard not to highlight everything. for example . . .

'it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face and then descend from contemplating him to scrutinize himself'

or this one . . .

' until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every food, that they should seek nothing beyond him- they will never yield to him in will service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.'

so i get to read stuff like this for class. and i love it. granted, i'll be doing lots of reading over the next couple of months. i have 10 books for one class, 4 for another, 3 for one, 5 and 2. so lots of reading, learning, writing, digesting and comprehending. but the greatest thing about all of it is that our professors remind us on a weekly basis that knowledge without taking it to the heart, that knowing without transformation is worthless!

so while i am thankful to be increasing in knowledge of God, his Church, his people and myself, i am even more thankful for the challenge to make it real in my life. that knowledge by itself is only arrogance and not beneficial to anyone including myself. our duty is to take what we know, what we believe and let it transform us from the inside out, so that our knowledge is a reality in us. my only prayer is that i remember this four years from now :)

knowledge of God is good but it must lead us to establish our happiness in God.

the trees are barren, asking for their clothes, echoing my cries for spring to come soon . . .