This article is written by Max Anders is sponsored by Thomas Nelson. Max is the author of 30 Days to Growing in Your Faith and 30 Days to Understanding the Bible.
Knowledge isn’t everything, but everything rests on knowledge.
You can’t believe something until you know it.
You won’t live it until you believe it.
You won’t impact others until you live it.
So, no, knowledge isn’t everything. But everything rests on knowledge.
Jesus said, “you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). To the degree that we do not know the truth, we are vulnerable to ignorance and deception. To the degree that we do know the truth, we are free to become all that God has for us.
Then, in John 17:17, Jesus said, “Your word is truth.” As we meld those two verses together, we conclude that an all-out pursuit of the word of God is a key to the life we long for.
I have learned this the hard way. When I first became a Christian in college, I was told to read my Bible, pray and go to church. That counsel was true and good. But it was like bringing a squirt gun to a forest fire. It wasn’t enough. I floundered for years.
I transferred to a Christian college, went straight to seminary, and then on to my doctorate. In the process, I learned a great deal. But because I knew virtually nothing when I started, it was eleven straight years of drinking from a firehose. I swallowed a lot, but much also got past me.
In the process, one of my seminary professors said, “Most learning is self-generated, so teach the basics! Then a believer can go on to learn what else they need, based on their gifts and calling.”
That made a lot of sense to me, and in my ministry since then, I have been consumed with trying to give people the basics – something I hadn’t gotten – in the hopes that it would make learning easier for them than it was for me.
After over fifty years of trial and error in the Christian life, I have compiled what I wish someone had told me back when I first became a Christian. I have included much of it in my latest book, 30 Days to Growing in Your Faith. It overviews the biblical basics of what a Christian needs to know, be, and do.
It lays out a very tight summary of a wide spectrum of invaluable truth that a believer must master to become a complete Christian.
Because it is such a tight summary, it isn’t the most a Christian needs to know, it is the least. It isn’t the end of a Christian’s learning; it is the beginning. When you finish, there will still be things you don’t know, changes you must make, and things you can’t do. But I don’t know of another resource that will enable you to learn more, easier and faster than this book.
I am convinced that it will guide and accelerate your spiritual growth and leapfrog you years down the road compared to not knowing this information. And, if you are already a mature believer, it will provide you an invaluable tool to help others grow in their walk with the Lord.
Get the big picture! Give it a try. I hope it will help you as much as it has helped me!
Click here to find out more about 30 Days to Growing in Your Faith.
