Walking With Christ

1 Corinthians 3:19-20
(19)For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” (20)and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”(ESV)

James 2:19
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!(ESV)

“Even the demons claim scholarship.” These words woke me up this morning, and I had to dig deeper. The etymology of the word scholarship is important here. It harkens back to medieval times and is similar in form to the word stewardship. Just as a steward could claim stewardship, a scholar could claim scholarship. To claim to be scholarly is to claim intellectual knowledge of a subject, as opposed to a layman’s understanding.

This is the stark difference for demons. They have been face-to-face with the Creator of all things, yet they know Him only from on intellectual level. They have knowledge of God but do not truly know Him.

It’s like the difference between knowing about someone and truly knowing them through lived experience. We can read about something and understand it, but reading about the moon and actually going there are two very different things. Demons may “read about” God, but we are invited to know God. He wants us to know Him as He knows us. He invites us into a relationship that goes beyond intellect—a relationship that cannot be found in a book but through personal experience and communion with Him.