At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

–Luke 10:21-22 (TNIV)

Notice the strong trinitarian focus here: God working as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to effect his good will and purposes. Jesus is reminding us that we don’t seek the Father, but rather that the Father seeks us, and that the necessary prerequisite is humility.

Jesus is not telling us to be anti-intellectual or not to use our minds. After all, he is the one who tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)! Rather, he is reminding us that knowledge and learning tend to puff us up and make us think we are more important and smarter than we really are.

As John reminds us in his letter, we love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19). Do you have the necessary humility to know that God is God and you are not?