Knowledge Puffs; Love Builds
As I was standing in the checkout line this morning at a local store, the cashier randomly started conversing about some new technologies she had heard about. I’m not sure how much of it is true, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of it was. Technology is “progressing” at a remarkable speed, and humanity seems to love it, which naturally drives the market.
My spirit started to sink and my mind began to wander as the cashier described chips being implanted in people’s brains that would allow them to know or do things without the usual kind of human effort. Apparently there are already some brain-computer technologies that can help people with paralysis communicate or control devices. That’s obviously a good thing, but it does make me wonder how these same technologies might eventually be used in ways that are not so good. The cashier continued to describe other chips that would be implanted in people’s hands—a sort of virtual iPhone that would open as a hologram when they opened their hands. She seemed very excited about the possibilities.
Listen, I love technology. I’ve worked with computers since the 80s. Technology has helped and continues to help me in my ministerial and other work—everything from creating multimedia presentations, prayer cards, and brochures to managing finances, finding recipes, listening to music, and countless other things that are now part of everyday life.
But, like most of us, I’ve also experienced the very real negative impact of technology in my life. It seems my focus is too often inward—thinking, knowing, figuring. The more these technologies progress and become attached to us at every moment, the less I seem to look outward and upward. It takes real effort to pull away from the lure of it all.
I wonder, why all the emphasis on knowing? We are constantly seeking information. It’s an obsession! Whether it’s information about health, politics, current events, the weather, the latest controversy, or simply the answer to whatever question happens to cross our minds, we are always seeking to know more. Maybe it has something to do with the old saying “knowledge is power.”
That desire for knowledge—and perhaps the power we imagine comes with it—seems to have captivated humans since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve were living in perfect union with God in a lush, pristine garden, but that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted knowledge. They wanted to be like God and know good from evil. Rather than simply receiving what God had given them, they reached for something more—to possess a knowledge that was not theirs to possess.
St. Paul’s advice to the Corinthians in the first century reveals their desire to know as well, and he reminds them (and us) that we are small creatures in the big scheme of things. Much as we want to know, we simply can’t know it all (1 Corinthians 13:12). St. Paul also reminds them (and us) that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). In the end, what matters most is love, a gift that no machine or chip can manufacture.
Imagine if our technologies were programmed to help us love more instead of know more. I suppose we could open our cell phones daily and ask AI for ideas on loving more fully each day. But how sad that would be, because we already have access to something infinitely greater. God speaks to our hearts and minds. He reveals everything we need to know—everything that really matters. He does this in a quiet but powerful way—one that can so easily be missed when we seek answers in all the wrong places.
Maybe we aren't so different from Adam and Eve after all. Surrounded by what God has already given us, we keep reaching for more knowledge, convinced somehow that knowing more will give us something we still lack. St. Paul offers another way: to accept that we “know only in part” and turn our attention toward what will remain when all our knowledge has reached its limits—faith, hope, and above all, love.
God, help us remember that the way forward isn’t to know more, but to love more.
All Reflections are written by Dr. Nina Marie Corona, founder of AFIRE Ministries. To explore more of her reflections on finding God in everyday life, visit When on Earth: Discovering Christian Spirituality in the Daily Happenings of Ordinary Life
© 2026 Nina Marie Corona. All rights reserved.
