Knowledge

Hosea 4:6a My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge.

Most people would agree that it is good to have some sort of knowledge about a few things to get along in life.  We need knowledge of how to take care of ourselves. We need knowledge of how to take care of our children if we are so blessed to have children.  We need knowledge to carry out our professions whether we have a blue collar or white collar job. We need some sort of knowledge to do the job.  What would happen if I as a pastor got into the cockpit of an airplane and tried to fly that plane without any knowledge of flying planes?  At best it wouldn’t move, at worst I would figure out how to get it to move and then there would be a plane crash soon to follow.  The knowledge of how to fly a plane is essential for flying a plane and no one would argue that point.

In the time of the Reformation 500 years ago a lack of knowledge of the laity and even to a point the clergy was one of Martin Luther’s concerns. For this very reason, Luther worked years and years to bring the scriptures into the language of the people so that they would have better access to the Word of God.  This is also why the Church has been concerned with schools so that people knew how to read and have access to the Word of God.  When God’s people lack knowledge of the will of God and the actions that he has taken in through Jesus Christ the words of the prophet Hosea will ring true again in 2017.

Does that mean I have to be “smart” enough to get into heaven? Well of course not! Why then all this talk about knowledge and studying the Word of God. It is because of who the word of God is all about and that is your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The message of Christ is what the Church needs to be all about even still today.  We need to continue to search the scriptures to know of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We need to continue to hear the word of God proclaimed to us.  We need God and His Word for without it we will be lost forever.

God desires to be close to you so much so that he has made himself available to you in very real ways.  One of those ways that is vitally important is through His word and as we read, learn, and inwardly understand his word, the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ continues to grow in us.  What a blessing it is to be able to know God and what He has done for each of us.

1 Timothy 2:3b-4 God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.