How to Seek God's Wisdom and Discern What to Believe Online: Knowledge Vs. Wisdom Over the Influence Ep. 4

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey there, Heather Creekmore here. Thanks for listening to the Compared To Podcast today. Have you ever thought about how crazy it is that we have so much knowledge now? I mean, think about how even 30 years ago, people walked around without knowing in real time what their hurt rate was, what their blood sugar was, what the exact location of their entire family was. If they had a strange rash, they may have asked a family member who had to glean from any experience they had with strange rashes as they gave their assessment. But they had to do that while they waited for a doctor's appointment to get that rash diagnosed. There was no Googling. There was no taking a picture of it and putting it into Gemini and having AI diagnose you. You did not have access to that kind of knowledge. We're in a series called Over the Influence, and today we're going to talk about what I believe is one of the most dangerous aspects of how we're influenced. That is, we have so much knowledge, so much access to know just about anything. But is that good for us? I mean, we can't change it. We don't really want to change it. The challenge is this information does influence us. And honestly, AI and Google aren't always right. They may make some good points, but just because AI or Google says it, perhaps we shouldn't always believe it. But today I want to explore what all of this knowledge may be doing to us in terms of how we're influenced and how it may also be affecting our faith. So today we're breaking down what is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? And what are we doing with all this knowledge in the realm of being influenced? How is this really affecting us? Hey, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much for listening to this show. If you've not left a review yet, man, that's the nicest thing you could do. If this show has blessed you, leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcast. That will help other people find the show and know which episodes are best to listen to. Also, let me encourage you to go check out improvebodyimage.com. That's where you can find out how to work with me in coaching. You can find free plans on YouVersion, the Bible app. You can find out about all of my books and so much more. Go to improvebodyimage.com and you'll find all the things compared to you on that site. So today we're looking at knowledge versus wisdom. I think these two concepts get really confused because we live in an information age where, like I said in the intro, we have access to so much information that sometimes we can feel like we are being wise because we're operating according to something we know and But maybe we know it because we just happen to watch 100 videos on it. You know, the funniest thing happened to me the other day. I was talking to a friend and we were trying to figure out, we're going to work out together and we were trying to figure out like what we should do. And it was so, so much just a wake up call that my Instagram, Facebook, like Reels feed is not the same as everyone else's. And so in my feed, I see information over and over and over again about how I should be lifting weights, lifting weights, lifting weights. And it was so funny because she was saying, well, what I'm seeing is that we really shouldn't be lifting as many weights. We really should be doing like Pilates and stretching and things like that. And it just was so contrary to the quote unquote knowledge that I have gleaned that I had to kind of stop for a second and think, well, how do I know what I know? I would say, I know what I know. And I would almost say, I know what I know is true. But then I stopped and I was like, oh, wait, I just know that from watching videos on the internet, right? Or from reading articles on the internet that are curated for me, probably because I hovered over those articles. And so they just send me more and more articles and videos on the same topic, right? I'm being influenced. I'm being pushed into knowing a lot about one area from a specific subset of people talking about it from the perspective I'm looking for. And that's completely different than what even my friends who live less than a mile away are seeing. So it's really important that we understand there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. And not all knowledge is created equally. But knowledge isn't bad, right? Scripture talks a lot about knowledge. It's fine to have knowledge. But let's just be clear about the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Maybe you've heard the old saying, right? Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in your fruit salad, right? It's sort of the same. So knowledge, just technically, definition here, Knowledge is information, facts, and understanding. It's the accumulation of truth. Facts, instruction, awareness. And scripture does value knowledge, but it treats knowledge as incomplete on its own. And I think that's important. So let's just like check out a couple of verses here. Proverbs 1, 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So knowledge has a starting point. And the starting point is what you believe about God. Friend, that is so important, right? Because if knowledge has a starting point of what this guy on the internet said, that's not grounded in absolute truth. That's not grounded in God's truth. That could very well be grounded in the world's truth. So we have to be careful when assessing that sort of knowledge because it doesn't have the right foundation. Proverbs 18, 15, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge. And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge, right? So there's nothing wrong with trying to seek and gather knowledge. Hosea 4.6 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, right? Like ignorance has consequences. We don't want to be like just the ignorance is bliss, like put your hands, the monkey hiding his ears and eyes, like I know nothing, right? That's not what scripture endorses. Instead, it's that we have to be careful about how we seek knowledge and then what we do with it. Think about 1 Corinthians 8.1. It talks about how knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Knowledge on its own can produce love. pride. Oh, friend, I have seen this. I have lived this. It's embarrassing to say, but I mean, I was an early adopter for gluten free. And I remember thinking that gluten free and really even dairy free, like those were the superior ways to eat. And because I knew so much because I had read and watched so many videos, I knew so much. I had so much knowledge around gluten and dairy and what it did to your body that, oh, friend, it produced in me. So then I would go and watch people eat pizza and be like, oh, they must not know. Not that I said anything. I just angrily ate my salad alone thinking, oh, it's a shame. They're so ignorant of what those foods are doing to their body. And now I think all of that is poppycock because even like what was knowledge around some of that then has changed, right? Knowledge is constantly changing. We always know more. But what that knowledge produced in me was not anything that looked like fruit of the spirit. It was pride. So we have to be careful in our accumulation of knowledge as we are influenced around knowledge, not to let our outcome be one where I am superior to you because I know all the things. Sometimes I wonder if we'd all be better off just getting off all the socials, YouTube included, getting off the internet and no longer knowing all the things because knowing all the things can make us not as loving of a person. And in fact, Paul even recognizes this before the internet existed in 1 Corinthians 13 too. Paul says, even with all knowledge. If you don't have love, you'll have nothing. Okay, then let's talk about wisdom. So wisdom, by definition, is the skillful, godly appreciation and use of knowledge. So the Hebrew word chakma describes skill or mastery, kind of like a craftsman who would build something masterfully. Wisdom is knowing what to do, when, and why. and then doing it in a way that honors God. Okay, so let's go back to scripture. Proverbs 9.10, the fear of the Lord is also the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight, right? So Proverbs 1.7 was the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 9.10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right? So you're not going to find, I mean, there is wisdom in this world, and we're going to talk about that in just a minute, right? But your wisdom has to be rooted in your reverence of God and your understanding of God's truth is the truth, and there's no other truth other than God's truth. Proverbs 4, 7, the beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight, right? Wisdom is where our insight begins. You can have knowledge of a situation and not have wisdom and insight into the situation. James 1, 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. Like this is, this should be your life verse friend. Like we pick a lot of life verses out, but this one, this one speaks to me because I think about how God was so pleased with Solomon when God said, you can ask for anything. And he asked for wisdom. Why is this man who ever lived right? And James one five tells us there is one prayer you can ask and God is going to give it to you every time. And that's wisdom, right? If you lack wisdom, ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. Friend, how often are you praying for wisdom? Like as I think about us being influenced or overly influenced, I think about my shallow quest to gain more and more and more and more knowledge. But what would my life look like if I spent all of that time I am using to glean knowledge, if I spent all that time praying for wisdom? Wow. Wow. feels like it wouldn't be life-changing, wouldn't it? James 3, 13, and then again, verse 17. Wisdom shows itself in conduct. Who is wise in understanding a menu? By his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. So heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy, and good fruits. So James, again, talking about wisdom and at first he's saying, like, we can tell who's wise by the way they conduct themselves, by their meekness. Wisdom isn't haughty. Wisdom isn't prideful, right? It's doing what God has called us to do in meekness and humility. But then in verse 17, heavenly wisdom, we're going to talk because there's another verse later that we're going to get to where it talks about the difference between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom, right? But heavenly wisdom is pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits. So you can tell whether or not wisdom is from above, or the wisdom is from God, or if it's the world's wisdom. And then finally, Matthew 7, 24 to 27. Here, Matthew says, the wise man hears Jesus's words, and does them. The foolish man hears them and doesn't do them. Both people had the same information in this story, but only one had wisdom. So if I were to make a chart, here's what you need to know. Knowledge is knowing what. Wisdom is knowing the how and the why. Knowledge focuses on information and truth, but wisdom focuses on application and discernment. Knowledge can make us prideful, puff with pride, but wisdom should result in humility. Knowledge, you can talk about knowledge. Knowledge is kind of what you say. I mean, that's what you do a reel on. But wisdom is more about how you actually live. And knowledge you can glean from learning and from studying, but wisdom we need to glean from the Lord in prayer. Proverbs 2, 6 says, the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. So really, I mean, like I said, our true source of both knowledge and wisdom should be God. But wisdom is the higher skill level. It's using what you know well. So let's talk about how this relates to all those reels that you're influenced by, right? The supplement ads, right? the food and exercise experts, right? Their knowledge may be helpful, but wisdom is discerning. Well, first of all, discerning the truth because you guys, so many of these ads are AI now. We don't even know that that is a real woman telling us that she's made that recipe or that she lost that weight. It's kind of crazy. It's hard to discern what is true online now. But more so, wisdom is saying, hey, that influencer may have said something that could help me. Or they may not have. Or what I just heard there might cause me to obsess. Or what I just heard there might not be true for me at all, even though it was true for them. Or what they just like showed me, hmm, that could have worked for them, but maybe that would actually be harmful for me and my body. And friend, like that's a challenge. You can glean more knowledge, more knowledge, more knowledge. But unless you have God's wisdom to filter all this knowledge, it's crazy making, isn't it? We can't possibly apply all the tips and tricks we're getting. We could make thousands of them a day. If you really stopped and counted, that would probably be at a pretty accurate number. The other aspect to wisdom is discernment. So you can have lots and lots of knowledge, but wisdom is what allows us to have discernment, to know whether or not these things, these facts that are being presented to us, are actually helpful or false, not helpful, or maybe just not helpful to us. When Solomon asked for wisdom, part of his request, 1 Kings 3, 9, was that he could discern between good and evil. Philippians 1, 9 and 10 shows that Paul prays that love would abound with knowledge and all discernment. so that you can approve what is excellent. Knowledge gives the content, but discernment and wisdom shows us how to apply what we know. Knowledge without wisdom, without discernment just leaves us carried along by the tide, right? Like this is how we become overly influenced. That's why we were avoiding fat in the 1980s and then eating fat bombs in 2010. Knowledge changes. Eggs are good. Eggs are bad. Eggs are good again. If you're like me, you did hours of cardio in the 90s because that's how you got fit and healthy and you avoided weights if you're a woman. And now you're supposed to avoid cardio. I mean, knowledge is always changing. Remember, doctors used to think using leeches on patients was good medical treatment. I feel like enough said there. And the danger is, like Ephesians 4 describes, that we will be tossed and fro, the verse 414, so that we may no longer be children. Do children have good discernment? No. That's why we have to grow up. That's what I talk to my clients about all the time. We have to grow up. And I say it so lovingly, but spiritual maturity is really at the root of most of these issues that we struggle with, be it body image, be it food, you name it. If we can grow up in Jesus, so many of our struggles will start to fade. It's about maturity, maturity growing up in him in every way who is the head is Ephesians 4.15, right? But back to 4.14, so we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning. Hello, reels, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Man, hello, some diet companies out there that are trying to trick you in various ways into buying their plan or spending a ton of money on something that really is just going to starve you. I mean, oh, there's so many schemes out there and we have to find the wisdom to be mature, to grow up in him so that we have the discernment to tell What is helpful knowledge and what is unhelpful to us? Wisdom gives us a filter and it gives us an anchor. Okay, let's look at a couple more verses here. I'm really hitting you with tons of verses today. But wisdom gives us a filter. 1 Thessalonians 5.21, test everything, hold fast to what is good. Wisdom doesn't reject all input, but it also doesn't swallow everything it hears and learns. It tests things first. 1 John 4.1 says, do not believe every spirit, But test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God. There are confident, spiritual-sounding voices out there that you still need to test. I was in a group the other day, and I had a woman tell me that she learned from a pastor that we had to love ourselves before we could love others. And I was like, test that friend, like read the Bible. It says there in that Matthew passage that there's only two commandments. To say that I have to love myself before I can love others or love God well, just isn't in the Bible. Not everyone wearing the label of Christian or Christian authority is is actually speaking God's truth. So you have to know the word and that gives you a filter to figure out what is true. Test the spirits. Wisdom also gives us an anchor. Psalms 1, 1 through 3, the blessed person doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, but delights in God's law and is like a tree planted by streams of water. When you are wise, you are rooted, you are anchored in God's truth. And that helps you to apply what knowledge you hear through, again, that filter of wisdom. But I told you we were going to look at how this whole wisdom, knowledge, distinction affects our faith. And this is something that's going to be part of my brand new book coming out February 2nd. I'm so excited for it. I hope you are too. It's called, Did I Say the Right Thing? And a million other micro fears that hold Christian women back. You can pre-order it on Amazon right now. Just look up Heather Creekmore, Did I Say the Right Thing? But friend, we are influenced and I'm afraid that this abundance of knowledge that we have accumulated is working against our faith. And let me tell you how. if I know all the things, do I actually have to lean on and rely on the Lord in the same way as if I didn't know all the things, right? Like I was watching television yesterday and there are dozens and dozens of pharmaceutical commercials. And I was just thinking about this reality that like there are so many more specific like diseases and issues that are diagnosed now than there were even, you know, 15, 20, 30 years ago. Right. And each of them has medication to help it or to cure it even in some cases. Right. Which is fantastic. I mean, if you have one of those specific issues, like praise God that there's smart people out there developing a cure for you. But think about the reality that if you had the symptoms related to your random, you know, unique condition, if you had those symptoms 20 or 30 years ago, what did you have to do? Right. The doctor's like, we don't know what it is. And so you have to just pray, right? Like, God, help me. Like, help me with this thing. I don't know what to do. Help me with this thing. Like you had to lean on the Lord. If you're a person of faith, help me. I don't know how I'm supposed to handle this or cure me or like you just really had to lean in. Now you can lean into Google. You can put all your symptoms in and figure out, oh, I have this and then find the specific medication that addresses this and feel like really your healing can come from a pill. And again, I'm so grateful that there are pills out there. I'm so grateful that there are medicinal cures. But just think about how the additional knowledge that we have culturally may be affecting our first instinct, our gut instinct as Christians to turn to God first. Right? It's harder now. Another example. I was having a challenge with a teenager this summer. And I've really been, like God's been working on me around these influence issues for a year or so now. So this isn't a new topic for me. But one of the things God's been speaking to me about is not turning to Google when I have a problem. Not immediately Googling my issue and finding the answer. And I had a challenge with a teenager this summer. And I was picking up my phone, ready to Google, what do I do about? And I like almost audibly, it wasn't actually audibly, but the Holy Spirit was like, no, I want you to pray. I want you to ask me. I do not want you to Google that. Oh, that was so hard. I went outside. I prayed. I said, God, help me. Help me with this kid. Help me. Help me know what to do. Help me know what to say to this really difficult thing. And he was faithful. He did help me. And I had a great conversation and it went well. And I got to be honest, afterwards, I Googled it anyway, even though I knew I shouldn't, like I confessed, I repented of this. But I Googled anyway, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. I mean, friend, that's, oh, that's the ugliness, the messiness of what my own heart is doing around these issues of knowledge. I really have some level of trust. in strangers from the internet and what they tell me. And that's a faith issue. My heart needs to trust in God alone, right? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, I go back to this verse all the time, but trust in the Lord with all your heart, right? Not trust in the Lord with half your heart and trust in Google, the other half your heart. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Oh, friend, who are we trusting and who do we believe is the best source of knowledge? I mean, the other hard just reality here too is when I pray and ask God to answer, sometimes he doesn't give me the answer right away. Sometimes I have to wait. In fact, a lot of times I have to wait or I actually just have to keep walking in faith, trusting him, not really sure whether or not I'm getting it exactly right. But when I go to Google and just type in the answer, I'm going to get something spit out at me right away. There's an instant gratification that comes with Google being my source of knowledge. And man, that's handy to have it come right away, isn't it? But whose way is actually the best way? Whose way is actually true? rooted in God's truth, absolute truth, right? The knowledge I'm getting from Google is not reliable. Friend, I asked it some questions about me and my programs one time a year or so ago, like just to see how my marketing was and, you know, just to kind of check a few things to see like what's out there about me. And it explained to me one of my programs and it said that it was written by a doctor. She was a psychologist. I'm in Texas. She was a psychologist in North Carolina who was a big LGBTQ advocate. And then a friend of mine, and it gave her the title of reverend. She is not a reverend. It was so wrong. It just completely made up the information it gave me. And so I wrote back like, no, check again. That program was written by Heather Creekmore. And of course, it's like, oh, I'm so sorry, you're correct. That program was written by Heather Creekmore. But it startled me into the reality of, like, I can't rely on anything it tells me. I mean, it does say on fine print at the bottom of ChatGPT and Claude, it says, you know, that it could be wrong. But boy, it presents things so confidently. And how would you know it was wrong unless you were testing something that you already knew for sure to be true? If you're sincerely seeking something, you don't know whether it's wrong or not. And so friends, that's my encouragement slash caution to you, right? I want you to think today, are you focused on growing your knowledge? Do you have a thirst to just know more and more and more and how to fix it and what to do? Or are you seeking wisdom? You know, and I changed the pace as I said those two things because I feel like knowledge is quick. Like more, more, more, more, more. And wisdom is slow. It's wow, what do I do here? God, help me navigate this. Help me be wise. And we want to be wise God's way, right? Because let's go back to James a second. James says there's two kinds of wisdom. That's important to know. There's a wisdom that's from above, which is pure and peaceable, merciful wisdom. We talked about that before, but there's also a wisdom that is earthly and spiritual and demonic. And how do we tell which wisdom is which? Well, James says that that kind of wisdom is marked by jealousy and selfish ambition. And so that makes me think sometimes when we think we're being wise around things that we learned from influencers or the internet, we really have to check What is going on in our hearts? If I am, oh man, zealous for it because I want it for myself, that doesn't sound like God's kind of wisdom. Again, if I'm prideful about it or if I'm jealous that it seems like she's getting ahead of me because she's pursuing this, that might not be God's wisdom. It could be earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. wisdom. Yikes. 1 Corinthians 1, 19-21 says that God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. Did God make foolish the wisdom of the world? It's a question. It's a confounds those who are wise in their own eyes and makes them seem foolish. Isaiah 5.21, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. Proverbs 3.7, be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord. Romans 1.22, claiming to be wise, they became fools. We can't just assume that we're wise because we know a lot of things and we try to make good decisions. Wisdom has to be rooted in the Lord and in our relationship with Him. We have to constantly be going to Him and asking Him to lead us, to guide us. That's that spirit-led living we talked about a couple episodes ago. That is what wisdom is. So as we close today, let me just give you some more practical applications as you think about Knowledge versus wisdom and think about the ways that you are personally influenced, okay? So the first thing I suggest is pause before you absorb something. First, ask whether or not it's true, right? But then does this fit scripture? Does this match what scripture teaches? And asking this question, if I decide to believe this, if I take this knowledge as truth, who benefits? Second, I think it's really important to anchor your convictions in advance. You have to know what you actually believe before the pressure arrives. And so, you know, in the context of food and body stuff, in my 40-day body image workbook, I work through a lot of different questions to, and I offer you questions actually so you can work through what do you actually believe about your body and how God made your body and what your body's purpose is and what we should be doing around food. And I challenge you from all different directions around these issues so that you can come up with, okay, well this from scripture, I read this because I've got lots of scripture through there. From scripture, I read this and I think a right way, according to scripture, to think about my body is this. A right way to think about food is this. And then when you watch all those reels that tell you, eat this, not this, you know, this is true about your body. This isn't true about your body. You better keep working on your body to make it look like this because this isn't acceptable. Like all of these things. And again, I'm not saying that all reels are bad. Please hear me, right? But you have to know what is actually true according to God's word so that you have the wisdom, discernment, maturity to absorb all these sources of knowledge coming at you and come out of it not confused, not tossed to and fro, not buying everything presented to you, but come out of it confidently saying, okay, I believe this. And so, you know what? I can take this piece of information. That's helpful. But I'm going to Discard that piece of information. That's not helpful. That doesn't match my theology of the body. That doesn't match my theology of food. Number three, ask God for discernment. This is the most important thing. We should be doing this every single day because James 1.5 says, if this is something we seek, if we're praying for wisdom, God is going to give it to us. So why don't we pray for wisdom more? Friend, if you take nothing else from this episode, I hope every day you'll just say, God, give me wisdom. Give me wisdom. Help me. Help me to see what is true according to your word. Give me wisdom to navigate these things. We live in a very confusing culture, right? We need God's wisdom desperately. And then number four, watch what you're taking in. Friend, again, like there is no shame or finger pointing in this. But if you're spending two hours a day on the internet being influenced by and getting in five to 10 minutes of Bible time, whose voice is going to be loudest? I mean, and I'm not necessarily saying you should be spending two hours reading the Bible. That'd be awesome if you did. I don't do that. I wish I did. I don't, but it is worth me being more cognizant about those two hours I spend on the internet and what they're doing to me or two hours I spend on Netflix and what those messages are doing to me, right? Like we have to be discerning of what messages we're taking in because those messages are affecting us. And the only way to be truly over the influence, right, is to be so grounded and rooted in Christ that he influences me more than any other thing on this earth. And friend, I'm not there yet. I wish I was, but I'm not there yet. And I hope that this can be a call to myself and to all of us, right? to be less influenced, to be wise, to not thrive on more and more and more knowledge, but to beg God for his wisdom so that we can make good decisions about our health, about our lives, about all the things that we pursue, but do those from a place of humility, grounded in love, and not out of a place of pride. So thanks for listening today. I hope this whole series has been helpful to you. We've got more coming this month. I did an awesome episode on how to handle seeing your family around the holidays with Travis Stewart, who is a favorite guest from years ago. He's back. So that's coming this month. I've also got a great interview with Emily Gossett. She's done an amazing new book, but she was kind of like one of the original women who wrote about eating disorder stuff years and years ago. And she's a fascinating story that you're going to love to hear. So stick with the show this month. But I hope you've enjoyed this Over the Influence series. Four episodes. If you missed any, go back and listen to them. You can find them all at improvedbodyimage.com slash podcast. You can also go to that page and just type into the search bar any topic that you're interested in. And chances are we've done an episode on it. Hey, I also asked you a few weeks ago, go to SpeakPipe, speakpipe.com backslash compared to who. Leave me your question. I'd love to answer some questions on the show. Haven't really gotten that many in recently, but leave me your question and I'll incorporate that into a future episode. Thanks for listening today. I hope something today has helped you stop comparing and start living. Bye-bye. The Compared to Your Podcast is proud to be part of the Life Audio Podcast Network. For more great podcast, go to lifeaudio.com.