7 Lies The World Tells Us, 7 Biblical Truths That God Tells UsНамуна

Day Four: You Are What You Know

Seven lies characterize the gig economy in which we live. They are our new “normal,” promising freedom and flexibility. 

Instead they have dangerous consequences for our relationships with God and with others. 

Only when we stop believing these lies and replace them with the truth of our identity in Christ will we discover legitimate freedom.

We’ve examined the first three lies of the gig economy: You are what you do, you are what you experience, and you are who you know. Today, we look at Lie #4: You are what you know, and the truth that refutes it. 

Lie #4 - You are what you know.

Knowledge has the power to shape and form our identities, which is precisely why Thomas Jefferson wanted to freely promote knowledge, while the dictators Hitler and Pol Pot wanted to control and restrict it. 

When Thomas Jefferson wrote that knowledge was power and ignorance was weakness, he was onto something. (1) What’s interesting is that more than a century later, the authoritarian dictators Hitler and Pol Pot would’ve said the same thing—they just would’ve applied it differently.

While Jefferson had as much in common with Hitler and Pol Pot as oil has with water, it’s interesting to see how their differing beliefs on the power of knowledge played out in their leadership. For Jefferson, it was the creation of local state universities in Virginia. For Hitler it was the burning of tens of millions of “un-German” books on their quest to create new knowledge. (2) And for Pol Pot, it was the genocide of his own people, specifically the “intellectuals, professors, businesspeople, and college-educated citizens.”(3) 

All three deeply understood the power that knowledge has to shape and form our identities, they just wanted to do something different with it. Jefferson wanted to freely promote knowledge, while Hitler and Pol Pot wanted to control and restrict it. Generations later, we see the difference. While Hitler’s actions are inexcusable, he didn’t kill all the educated; in fact, he was more concerned about his ideal Aryan race, than about education levels. Pol Pot, on the other hand, killed an entire generation of the educated in Cambodia—and its effects are still felt today.

While knowledge is definitely valuable, the pursuit of knowledge—over and above everything else—doesn’t ever satisfy. You’ll inevitably meet someone who knows more than you, and it’ll take a lifetime to catch up to them. Or, you’ll be working for someone who doesn’t even know half of what you know, yet they’re making double your salary.

If knowledge was the silver bullet to achieving the American Dream, then shouldn’t the most educated be our role models? Wouldn’t they be the ones that have it all and are living the good life? What’s ironic is that the more you know about a specific subject, the more you realize just how much you don’t know about everything else—just ask someone with a Ph.D.

Truth #4 - The pursuit of knowledge above all else is like chasing the wind. 

After living a life devoted to examining and exploring all things under heaven, King Solomon had this to say about the pursuit of knowledge.

I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind. 

For with much wisdom is much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.

(Ecclesiastes 1:16-18)

Solomon is not saying that we should live in ignorance or take Pol Pot’s approach to knowledge and education. Just consider some of his proverbs on knowledge, “The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of the fool hastens destruction” (Proverbs 10:14); “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1); “The inexperienced inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge” (Proverbs 14:18); and “a wise warrior is better than a strong one, and a man of knowledge than one of strength” (Proverbs 24:5). 

Clearly, Solomon is not dismissing the importance of knowledge. He’s just helping us understand what happens when we make the pursuit of knowledge our life’s goal.

So let’s say, just for a moment, that you do make this your goal. You ignore Solomon, and see yourself through the lens of this lie that you are what you know. What do you think would happen?

If the pursuit of knowledge drives everything in your life, you might get accepted into an Ivy League school. Upon graduating, you might win a full ride to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. And then, to continue learning, you might spend your money curating a collection of books that even librarians would be in awe of. And then what? Do you get multiple doctorates? What would you do with them? 

No matter how accomplished you become as a result of your knowledge, you will eventually arrive at the same place Solomon did: it never ends and it’s never enough. Pursuing knowledge as an end in and of itself, or as a means to the American Dream, is like chasing the wind. It’s like trying to stop a leaky corroded pipe with the tip of a sharp pencil. Sure, it will stop the water for a moment, but it’ll only be a matter of time until it bursts again, or another section of the pipe starts leaking.

Prayer: Father God, It’s so attractive to acquire more knowledge, to learn as much as possible, and to desire to be the “smartest person in the room.” Forgive me for believing this lie, and help me instead to seek wisdom that comes from you. Amen.

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(1) The Jefferson Monticello "Knowledge is Power (Quotation)" article, courtesy of The Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia
(2) "How Nazis destroyed books in a quest to destroy European culture" by Michael S. Roth (The Washington Post, Feb. 24, 2017)
(3) "The Violence of Cambodia's Past Threatens Educational Dreams Today" by Annie Dale (Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, June 27, 2013)