Is It Enough to Know?

This is a question that we don't hear very often, but that I have pondered frequently.

It is not uncommon to hear someone say that they "know" something. Whether it is someone they know, a subject they are familiar with, or even just that they know that they should start exercising more.

In my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), we have a testimony meeting every month, and it is open for anyone to go up and testify of the truths they know pertaining to the gospel. We always hear that you, "know the church is true," and that you, "know Joseph Smith was a prophet." We know that you, "know that God loves us," and that Jesus Christ lives.

I, too, know these things to be true. I know that the church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that he restored the same gospel and church that Christ revealed and formed while he was on this earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I am thankful for it's teachings. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on earth today, and that he leads us to Christ. I know that families can be together forever through the sealing power available in holy temples, and I am so grateful to know that my family has been sealed. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us, and wants us to return to Him. I know many things, but most of all, I know that Jesus Christ lives. He lived to show us how. He suffered and died for us, and atoned for our sins so we can be worthy to live with Him again. And He LIVES AGAIN! He was resurrected that we too, may live again. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I testify of these things with all of my heart. I know them to be true.


But is that really enough?

Does it really matter that I know those things?

Does it really matter what you know?

Let me ask you a question. Does Satan know anything?

Does he, for example, know that God lives?

Does he know that God loves us?

Does he know that Jesus Christ atoned for us?

Does he know that our Savior lives again?

Of course he knows these things! He once lived with God! He knows the plan! He knows that God loves us! He knows what Christ did, and the significance of it! He knows it all!

So let me ask you again. Is it enough to know?

Obviously not.

What else has to be there?


A long time ago, I was taught about two very important virtues: sensitivity to truth, and love of truth. Sensitivity to truth is exactly as it says; being sensitive to and able to recognize truth. This is the "knowing" part, if you will. But I would like to propose that what is missing is love of truth.

While Satan is certainly sensitive to and aware of the truth, he does not love it. In fact, he hates it with a horrible, burning passion. This is how he has fallen, and this is what we must fight against if we desire to come back to our Father.

When you love someone, you want to spend time getting to know them, coming closer to them, and talking about everything. When you aren't together, you think of them, come up with new questions for them, and wish you were together. What if we loved truth in the same way? What if we loved the things we know? What if we wanted to understand truth better, come closer to it, and be in line with it? What if we sensed when it was missing, and mourned it's loss? What if we strove to find it again, and to keep it with us always?

When we apply this to the gospel, and the truth that we know and believe about the Lord, and about the people we must be to be closer to Him, strength comes. We are able to grow closer to God, and to the truths that He sends us through His prophets. We are able to become "that guy"/girl (as my husband puts it). That person you see when you think of who you want to be, the person that God intends for you to be.

Close your eyes, and picture your soul. Who is he/she? What does he/she look like? How do they carry themselves? What does their face tell you of who they are? Do they have joy? Wisdom? Confidence? This person is who you can become, and the person (or as close as we can imagine--obviously the Lord knows more than we do) that we must be in order to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

As we pursue truth and grow to love it, rather than to just be sensitive to it or know it, we will be able to grow closer to the Lord. We will not just know. We have learned that it is not enough to just know. Rather we will love truth. We will fight for it, search for it, pursue it, and RUN to meet it. And as we search, we will find.