Aaron Long

I pride myself in being fairly intelligent. Sure there are folks who are far more intelligent than I will ever be. But, I still think I’m pretty smart.

At points I’ve taken this pride too far. I’ve taken Theology classes and done numerous studies on theology. It made me feel good. I felt accomplished.

In reality, I studied the faith right out of my Christianity. I convinced myself that,”I’ve learned a lot on theology. I’ve got this in the bag.”

This was the down fall of my relationship with God. You see, I thought that I had figured God out. I thought I had his number. I thought that since I knew certain terms and what the terms actually meant that I was a phenomenal Christian and that people should look up to me.

Jesus himself told that we need to have faith like a child. A child doesn’t know a thing about theology or its fancy terms that make us puff out our chests because we’re so Holy for knowing. A child follows willing because they don’t know any better, believing that the one they are following is in control.

With all of these classes and different studies I left my child-like faith along the road somewhere. I wasn’t living out of faith. I was living out of head knowledge. And knowledge of God without active faith is arrogant ignorance.

Over the past few months I have gone out of my way to try to unlearn a lot of what I had learned. Now, I’m not saying live life in ignorance. Not all. We’re also instructed to study to show ourselves approved.

I still study. I still learn. The difference is that I don’t use my knowledge as tool to make me feel better about myself or feel superior to “the common Christian.”

Here’s what I’m saying in a nutshell:
Study. Learn. Grow. But don’t lose sight of the beauty of simple child-like faith. Don’t lose the simplicity of following Jesus because that’s all you know. Don’t study the faith out of your Christianity.