A Feast is Spread Before Us!
Though most of us in America eat well, a literal feast of food is not what I mean. I mean that, like never before, information is available to all. Never in history has so great a percent of the population of the world been literate. Never before have books been so affordable. When we think of the inconceivably vast amount of information available through computers on the internet… I don’t quite know what to say. It is wonderful! I am thankful to be blessed to live now. I feel the spiritual yearning for knowledge; to understand the truth. Do you?
Sadly, as the old saying goes, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” so there are just too many people who take literacy for granted, who allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the flood of information around them, or who are just too lazy to study. Do you view study as work? Maybe it is. However (in case you haven’t noticed, I like old sayings and proverbs), “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.” Much of my “job” is to study. That’s no problem for me, because I love it. I want to challenge you to test what I’m about to say. If you’ll just be patient enough to read through a couple of good books, and if you’ll just give the Bible a chance and start really studying it, you WILL begin to experience moments of joy and fulfillment deeper than most you’ve ever known. It is fleshly to avoid learning. Our spirits need nourishment.
So, there is a feast of knowledge spread before us. As with physical food, we have to be careful, some of it is harmful to your health. But, we shouldn’t be afraid. We should “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 ESV). Every truth you learn makes you a better person, and makes your life better. Solomon (who studied hard and learned a lot) said, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18 ESV). Is ignorance really bliss then? Don’t take Solomon wrongly, he wasn’t the worse for knowing better. Growing in knowledge is our basis for growing spiritually into the likeness of Christ (Colossians 3:10). I challenge you to pull up a chair. Fill your plate. Pour yourself a drink, and begin sampling the delicacies that the Lord has set before you. Read your Bible more and more every day. Read other books too–lots of them. Digest (think about) what you read. Grow.
Check out my other blog (there’s a link on the “Resources” page) to see a list of books I’m reading in addition to the Bible.
—JLP
Comments
Got something to say?
