Head vs. Heart
“Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17
Head vs. Heart
Do not know – You won’t see the difference in English, but Greek makes it clear. This kind of knowing does not come from the gathering of evidence. It is knowing straight from the heart.
If you were reading this verse in Greek, you would see that John chooses to use the verb eido, not ginosko. This choice makes the meaning absolutely obvious. Ginosko is knowledge that comes from gathering the facts, examining the data and drawing from experience. It is the kind of knowledge that this world holds out as best. It is the kind of knowledge that drives our business, our government and our science. And it is completely blind. Ginosko can never lead us to eido because eido is the knowledge of God speaking to the heart.
Eido is much closer to what we would call intuition. It is direct connection with our deepest sense of who we are. Amazingly, our postmodern world has become the first culture in the history of Mankind to systematically ignore and deprecate this kind of knowing. We have turned deaf ears to the heart because we are so full of the head. And the result has been nothing short of catastrophe. Today we think that every problem requires more head knowledge, more education, more study, more analysis. But God says something quite different. “BE STILL, and eido that I am God”.
What is the role of eido in your life? How free are you to listen to the voice of your heart? How swift are you to obey God’s leading rather than examine your experience? Where do you find that intuitive conviction that God is directing your steps?
The language of the heart is not a language of powerful arguments, overwhelming statistics, verbal advantage or legalese. It is a language of obedience and only those who are quick to obey can hear it or speak it.
Is your God the God of the head or the God of the heart?
