MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
April 10, 2006

KNOWLEDGE: A BLESSING, OR A CURSE?

By: Rick Boxx

Not long ago I participated in a learning disabilities simulation. The teachers wanted each of the participants to gain an understanding of some of the difficult issues kids with learning disabilities must face.

One of the most heartbreaking realities was the condescending attitude exhibited by other students and some teachers toward these special children. During this exercise, a favored student was lavished with praise and positive encouragement, while the rest of us received harsh criticism for being slow, incompetent or stupid, simply because we could not complete the impossible assignment the teacher had given us.

If we have never suffered from learning disabilities, it becomes so easy to become judgmental and impatient toward those who struggle with gathering and processing information in practical ways for solving problems. “Knowledge is power,” someone has said, and those of us who have knowledge skills necessary for a specific task can find it hard to understand the sense of powerlessness for those who do not.

It occurred me recently that most of us fall victim to this type of offensive attitude from time to time, whether in a school, in the workplace or in other settings. A person with learning disabilities certainly experiences feelings of inadequacy

Knowledge, however, should be viewed as a gift, not as a weapon. In the Bible’s Old Testament, it says, “(God) gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning” (Daniel 2:21). Knowledge should be distributed and shared to benefit and empower others, not to overwhelm or cripple them.

In the workplace, every business presents us with opportunities for using knowledge either positively or negatively. During my banking career, for example, I encountered several different approaches for utilizing knowledge in our loan committee meetings. Sometimes I became the brunt of attacks, so that more experienced, more knowledgeable individuals on the loan committee could demonstrate how much smarter they were than I was. On other occasions, however, I benefited considerably from someone’s greater knowledge as they graciously guided me in finding the proper conclusions.

Later, as I rose to positions of authority on loan committees for various banking institutions, there were times (I now realize with regret) that I crippled others by flaunting my knowledge, rather than using the knowledge I had been blessed with to help in developing other leaders.

In your spheres of influence – at work, in your community, and especially in your home – seek to identify the opportunities you have on a regular basis to shape others with your knowledge. Ask yourself: Do you typically use knowledge as a curse to others, or as a way of blessing them? When you are leaning toward driving home a key point, tempted to flex your intellectual muscle to make yourself look good, remember the apostle Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 8:1 “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Copyright 2006, Integrity Resource Center, Inc. Adapted with permission from "Integrity Moments with Rick Boxx," a commentary on issues of integrity in the workplace from a Christian perspective. For more information about receiving Integrity Moments in their e-mail box, write to: rboxx@IntegrityMoments.com and type "subscribe" in the subject line or visit his website, www.IntegrityResource.org.


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Reflection/Discussion Questions


1. In your workplace, can you think of any instances when someone flaunted or abused the knowledge they had to advance themselves and their interests over others? Do you think this is a common problem in today’s business and professional world?


2. How do you typically respond when you are around other people who are not as knowledgeable, or don’t seem to be as skilled at effectively processing knowledge, as you are?


3. What about the idea of viewing knowledge as a gift, a resource that should be used to benefit – even “bless” – other people: Do you agree with this concept?


4. At the end of this “Monday Manna,” we read the Bible verse that states, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” What do you think this means? And what would you suggest should be done to avoid becoming “puffed up” with knowledge?


NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more about this subject, consider the following passages:

Psalm 119:66; Proverbs 2:1-5, 10:14, 13:16, 17:27; Ecclesiastes 1:16-18; Daniel 2:20-22; 1 Corinthians 8:1-4, 13:2; Colossians 2:2-3



週一嗎哪
服事全球工商界
2006.4.10

知識：是祝福或咒詛？

不久之前，我參加一個模擬學習障礙者的課程。老師要每位參加者了解有學習障礙的孩子所必須面對的困難。

最令人傷心的事情之一是其他學生和一些老師表現出優越的態度。在模擬練習中，一位受喜愛的學生得到許多讚美與鼓勵，而我們其他的人則受到嚴厲的批評，因為我們的動作慢、無能或愚笨，只因我們無法完成老師要我們作的困難功課。

若我們從未有學習障礙，對那些在收集、處理資訊去解決問題上有困難的人，我們就會變得沒耐心，會批評他們。有人曾說：「知識即力量。」而我們這些有知識技能去完成困難工作的人，卻很難了解沒有知識技能之人的無力感。

最近我想到我們大多數人，不論在學校、職場或其他場合，偶爾也會被別人的優越態度所冒犯。有學習障礙的人一定更經歷這種無能的感覺。

然而，知識應被視為一種恩賜、禮物，而不是武器。舊約聖經中說到：「祂將智慧賜予智慧人，將知識賜予聰明人」（但以理書2章21節）。我們應將知識與別人分享，造福別人，幫助別人更有力量，而不是讓他們窘迫，或使他們不便。

在職場中，每一種行業都提供我們機會去運用知識，不論是正面或負面。例如，我在銀行界時，在貸款委員會中我遇到許多運用知識的不同方式。有時我成為被攻擊的對象，使得更有經驗和知識的人顯得比我更聰明。而在有些場合中，比我更有知識的人優雅地引導我去尋得合適的結論，使我獲益良多。

後來，當我在許多銀行機構中的貸款委員會上升到主管的職位，有時我會炫耀自己的知識，使別人顯得無能（我現在很後悔地了解到這一點），而沒有運用神所賜的知識去幫助發掘其他領袖。

在你影響力所及的領域－－在職場上、社區裡、尤其是在家中－－要經常尋找機會，用你的知識去塑造別人。問自己：我是否用我的知識成為別人的咒詛或祝福？當你受試探，傾向要說服別人一個觀點，想要展現自己的聰明才智，使自己看起來比別人好，請記得使徒保羅在哥林多前書8章1節的警告：「知識是叫人自高自大，惟有愛心能造就人。」


思想 / 討論題目

1. 在你的工作場所中，你是否能想出某人炫耀、濫用他的知識，使自己顯得高人一等，並得到更多利益？ 你認為這是否是今日工商專業中的普遍問題？


2. 當你周遭人的知識不如你，或無法像你一樣有效地運用知識，你一向都如何對待他們？


3. 把知識視為禮物、恩賜，應該被用來作為造福，甚至「祝福」別人的資源。你是否同意這觀點？


4.在本篇「週一嗎哪」結尾，我們讀到聖經的話語：「知識是叫人自高自大，惟有愛心能造就人。」你認為這是什麼意思？ 為了避免我們因知識而自高自大，你有何建議？


註：若你有聖經且想要看有關自誇的其他經文，請看：
詩篇119篇66節；箴言2章1-5節，10章14節，13章16節，17章27節；傳道書1章16-18節；但以理書2章20-22節；哥林多前書8章1-4；13章2節；歌羅西書2章2-3節


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