THINKING AND KNOWING

 Recently I have been pondering the difference between "thinking" and "knowing". It seems to me they are quite different in degree. 

For years I have tried to break my writing students of the habit of including "I think" at the beginning of a sentence expressing an opinion because those two words become redundant when you go on to state what is obviously an opinion.

No need to write "I think Wonder Woman 1984 was a terrible movie." Just have a little confidence and state flatly, "Wonder Woman 1984 was a terrible movie."

The difference between "I think" and "I know" seems to boil down to this thing: confidence.

I heard somebody make this very point recently with a familiar experience. If I say to you, "I recognize that guy over there but I don't remember his name. Do you know it?", consider how different my next step will be depending on your response:

If you say, "His name is Joe", I will walk over to him and say, "Hey, Joe! It's been a long time. How are you?"

But if you say, "I think his name is Joe", well, that's an entirely different story. My next step will likely be to ask somebody else the same question.

"I think" leaves room for a healthy dose of doubt.

It is hard to map out exactly how it happened, but by the grace of God, I feel like 2020 moved me from thinking there is a God who loves me, thinking He has a plan for my life, and thinking He has expectations regarding my thoughts, words and deeds ...  to knowing He loves me, plans for me, and commands me.