you know? You really can’t be chastised, or held accountable for what you don’t know. BUT… And this is a gigantic BUT, #1 this also requires you to learn, to grow, to refine who you are and what you do. Ignorance only goes so far. AND, #2 if you were wrong, to not repeat the behavior and where necessary, make amends.
And yes, while the 1 & 2 sound relatively easy… they aren’t. However, before even considering them, you need to know IF you are you really walking in all the light you do know? Remember, you are always responsible for what you know and you can never unknow. Plus… you really do know if you know. If nothing else then reviewing your own behavior will confirm, by your actions and words, what you know. Experience may be a good teacher but she is always your proof.
Once you’ve honestly appraised this step, it’s time to consider if you are living a lifestyle that exemplifies learning, growing and refining. This is always a choice and is also obvious by how you spend your time. As to the content… scripture is a great teacher. This is where we find our information and beginning understanding of who the Lord is, what He did and continues to do, how He went about being Him, and how this applies to us.
There really is no better source than the Bible to learn. Where to start? What to learn? You really need to start with your biggest need – what is it you need to know and understand so you can apply it? Let your needs guide your learnings. However, if you don’t have a focus, start with John and them Mark. Matthew and Luke are important, especially for chronology and examples of how Jesus met issues. The reason I suggested John and then Mark is because John gives us our foundational understandings and philosophical structure. Mark is the more dynamic of all the apostles and is fiery in his choice of topics… at least this is my interpretation.
Don’t just read the scriptures from one translation. Read from a variety to broaden your understandings. After this start, I would move on to Paul’s letters and then the other New Testament writers. There’s a lot of meat in these letters, a great deal to digest and understand. Again, one reading once won’t suffice. The Bible should be your manual for learning and you need to understand the who, what, why, how. I’m not ignoring the Old Testament because it provides our foundation, giving us the prophecies that lead to the New Testament. It also gives us our heritage.
The obvious point is if you aren’t growing then walking in all the light you have is a dim light. Scripture tells us we are salt and light. But to act on this we need to increasingly expand our light. But light also has to be applied. A sponge can only absorb so much water before it can’t hold any more… it has to come out. It has to be able to be expressed and seen. This is also true of us. We need to express our understanding and as iron sharpens iron, refine it. Can you imagine just how bright it can be when we all bring our lights and put them together to reach our world?
