Be Informed .... Christian Learning

Throughout this blog I will be encouraging people to “be” something that is of value to the Gospel. We are not here to point out what is wrong with everyone else’s religion but to point the way to an active participation in the Christian life for the sake of Christ and others. With that in mind, this week I want to encourage everyone to “Be Informed".

Christianity is not a religion for the intellectually lazy. You can of course approach it that way, but you will find that it is less fulfilling, less challenging, and lacking in personal growth. The word “ignorant” appears 16 times in the New Testament. Six of those time we are informed by Paul and Peter that they are concerned for our ignorance. Don’t take this as an insult against your intellectual capacities and think that ignorance is equivalent to stupidity. There is a big difference between the two. You can be smart and still be “ignorant”. “Ignorant” just means that you don’t know something. It also means that there is always more for you to learn. What Paul and Peter are telling us each time they tell us that they “would not have you ignorant” is that even though we have been given faith and have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is not enough for us to just sit back and rest on that fact, waiting  for death and heaven and our real Christian life to appear. Christianity requires us to live a life full of study, understanding, learning, and growth, and then it requires us to share what we have learned with those around us. Christ was a teacher. You can be one too. It's not a matter of having the gift for teaching (although it helps), it's a matter of preparation and action. If you are informed, you can inform ... just share what you learn, whenever you can, with whomever will listen. Some of my best teaching moments have been on the back patio on a Sunday afternoon with neighbors who haven't seen the inside of a real church in years. You will find that people truly are hungy for the Word.

Christianity encourages an interaction among the brethren to inform and support and encourage each other so that the Gospel light shines forth clear and sharp in our lives and not dim and flickering .. blazing up and dimming with the ebb and flow of our emotions. Where this Christian brotherhood and support is strong and vibrant, the Gospel is heard effectively. But effective Christianity is Christianity that is quickly and forcefully challenged by Satan ... the Father of Lies. It is only by Truth that he and his minions are overcome. That’s why it is so important that Christians have not only spiritual strength but intellectual weapons as well, so that they can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph 6:15).

So, what specifically can you do? First and foremost, read the scriptures. Read something every morning and read something every evening before going to bed. Never ever neglect your daily scripture reading. Then read something that explains the bible. I will be posting a suggested reading list shortly. It’s not easy reading. Christ didn’t have it easy and in this world you won't either.

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33)

 Despite what you hear on television, Christianity is not a life of ease, and prosperity and achievement. Those are things of the world. It is instead a life of peace, fulfillment, and hope .. real hope, not the kind peddled in Washington, DC. Some of the finest men I ever knew never saw the inside of a college classroom and never earned more than six dollars an hour in their whole life, but they were good Christians who have gone on to a reward of immense richness. They didn’t know economics and physics and chemistry and couldn’t read Greek, but they knew their English bible and they knew it well. As informed Christians, they pointed the way to Christ for many a fallen sinner. They weren’t rich, but they weren’t ignorant. Make a resolution today to “be informed”. It is a life long task; it is never boring, and you’ll be a better witness for Christ.