Full Coffers and Empty Bellies

"Ye write, that I am filled with knowledge, and stand not in need of these warnings. But certainly my light is dim when it cometh to handy-grips. And how many have full coffers and yet empty bellies! Light, and the saving use of light are far different. Oh, what need then have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out fire! I may be a bookman and (yet) be an idiot and stark fool in Christ's way. Learning will not beguile Christ." (Rutherford, 390)

I love knowledge. I love reading theology and contemplating the high things of God and how he interacts with man. It really is one of my passions. And yet, Rutherford here smacks me between the eyes with the proverbial 2x4. "How may have full coffers and yet empty bellies!" How many of us have so much precious knowledge of God, Scripture, the nuances of theological terms--and yet our saving light is dim! Our light is dim when it comes to handy-grips, to actually living and walking in it. There is indeed a difference between light and the saving use of light. There is a difference between knowledge about God and actually knowing God.

I cannot help but think of the Pharisees, the religious elites in Jesus' day. We often view these guys negatively because of how harshly Jesus treated them, but they were not all these deplorable caricatures we so often imagine. The Pharisees came about because they saw just how far the people of God had strayed from Him and His law. They recognized this and wanted to return with zeal and fervor to the whole of it. As a result they had great knowledge of God and His Holy Words. They treasured it, dove head long into its fountain, and still missed Jesus! In fact it was these most religious individuals who ended up crucifying Him. Oh the horror! We would be quite foolish to think that this no longer happens in our day, that we are immune to similar failure, or that we are no longer susceptible to filling our coffers with precious knowledge and yet remaining empty where it matters most.

"I may be a bookman and yet be an idiot and stark fool in Christ's way. Learning will not beguile Christ." The word "beguile" means "to charm or enchant, sometimes in a deceptive way." Rutherford is saying we will not impress God with our intellects. We will not deceive Him with our vast knowledge of His things. One can have a PHD in systematic theology, a vigorous understanding of the original Greek texts, a passion for truth in the public arena-- and yet remain "a stark fool in Christ's way".

As C. S. Lewis wrote in the Great Divorce: "There have been men before … who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself… as if the good Lord had nothing to do but to exist. There have been some who were so preoccupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ."

To this we must agree with Rutherford: "Oh, what need then have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out fire"--to essentially have the waning flames be fanned with new power. To be awaken.

This is truly our great need.

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Rutherford Samuel, Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Ravenio Books (November 19, 2012) Kindle Edition.