The 12 Days of LCC – A Year-End Devotional Series

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Don’t Be Ignorant -The Fourth Day of LCC

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. – 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

One of my favorite uncles and a man who was like a father to me, was fond of telling us when we were younger, ‘Don’t be ignorant.’ This was sometimes said when we had an opinion different from his, but often it was an encouragement to be better informed on a subject before we started talking about it. I didn’t get it at the time. I just thought he was being mean and calling me names.

So when it comes to the truths of scripture and familiarity with the story told in the Bible I hope you won’t be offended when I echo Paul’s words (and those of Uncle Virgil) and say, ‘don’t be ignorant!’ And by that I mean in the strictest sense of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition:

1a : destitute of knowledge or education <an ignorant society> ; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified

In my experience there is rampant Biblical illiteracy among professed Christians today. Many know snippets here and there. Some have a passing familiarity with stories that made it into Sunday School lessons. But, by and large, I fear a majority of those who claim the name Christian have not done the hard work of becoming intimately familiar with the whole of scripture from cover to cover.

And I don’t blame them.

It’s hard work. Serious study of God’s Word takes focus, effort and, most of all, time. Lots and lots of time. There is no end to the distractions of this world that make it doubly hard to set aside time each and every day for the study of God’s Word. But what we risk by not making that effort is ignorance. And knowledge of God doesn’t exist where there is ignorance... by definition.

Prayer
God, you have revealed yourself in your Son Jesus Christ through the passages of scripture. By your Spirit make me diligent to learn and grow in my knowledge and understanding of you with each new day. Amen.