You could be the richest person alive, but if you thought you were poor you’d live poor. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy or share your riches with anyone. A rich man who thinks he’s poor will go on acting poor. And you certainly won’t share wealth you don’t know you have.
There’s No Such Thing As a Poor Christian
A Christian who doesn’t know much about what the Bible is a bit like this. We’re like an adopted child who’s been given an enormous inheritance. But we don’t know much about our adoptive father or his fortune or what his will and testament says. So we have no idea of what our new life includes and how we can bless others.
We don’t know the character or voice of our benefactor, nor our position, security, resources, or what we have to offer those around us. There’s no such thing as poor Christians, just uninformed ones. We are adopted, safe and secure, loved and accepted, full of purpose, and rich beyond imagining but largely in the dark about it all.
Don’t Miss Out
That’s a lousy way to live. It’s a waste. It’s sad. And there are at least three huge and awesome parts of the Christian life we can miss out on.
If we don’t know what the Bible says we can miss out on:
- The peace, wonder, joy and confidence which comes with knowing and believing the truth about God, ourselves and the world.
- The wisdom and strength which comes with being able to discern between the voice of God and lies.
- The purpose and delight which comes with sharing our unfathomable wealth and infinite security with others.
Knowing Better Than Moby Dick
Knowing the good news about Jesus has the power to change everything in our lives for the better. And the primary means God uses for communicating this good news to us is through specific words. They’re worth knowing. Very worth knowing. And not just, “Yeah, I read that book once.”
I read Moby Dick once but I can’t quote it when someone asks or when anxiety strikes at my heart or when someone misquotes it. The Word of God–the words he’s chosen to communicate the true reality of things to us about himself and us and the world– is a treasure trove. It is precious. It is priceless. It is God’s amazing means of bringing salvation and freedom and life to us. Not just for a moment, but always. It is not only worth reading once but knowing every day.
Knowing By Heart
It’s one thing to be an adopted child who knows there’s something in a book somewhere that says something about our inheritance and position and responsibilities and resources and wealth. And it’s another thing to know it so well that we know it by heart. Then we can live from it. We can live like the heirs we are.
We can live each day as the forgiven, adopted, accepted, pleasing, loved, purposeful, heirs and friends and Spirit-filled children of the Living God that we are.
