HAVE YOU read or been taught about the biblical passages which describe Christians as priests to God? Yes, every true Christian, who is recreated in Christ Jesus and sealed with the Spirit of God, is a priest, according to Revelation 1:6 and 1 Peter 2:9. Each has direct access to God the Father to plead His mercy and ask for forgiveness by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
However, Christians have not only been chosen
to be royal priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices, continually offer up a
sacrifice of praise to God and present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to God. We are to be men and women of knowledge, understanding
and wisdom. In fact, God does not produce ignorant children.
In both the Old and New Testament scriptures,
believers are exhorted to be men and women of knowledge. Knowledge is necessary
for wisdom. God instructs His children to grow in grace and in knowledge (2 Peter
3:18). God commands His children to be people of knowledge so as to escape
eternal death and obtain life (Hosea 4:6).
It is written in Malachi 2:7 that “For the lips
of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his
mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.” The word “guard” means
“preserve or keep”. This means a Christian who is a priest to God should be
knowledgeable in the Word of God and be ready and willing to teach others about
the ways, acts, precepts and commandments of God. You cannot be a Christian and
be ignorant of Scriptures.
The Bible is a book of books; it seems to be
old yet always new and refreshing. It is the greatest source of wisdom for
living. Only people who are lost, “darkened in their understanding, alienated
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their
hardness of heart” cannot see the relevance of the Bible.
It is, however, very sad that most Christians
in many parts of the world are ignorant of the sacred truths of the Word of God
that make people good ambassadors of Christ and patriotic citizens of their
nations. Ignorance is a sin in the sight of God as it leads to death. Yes,
ignorance kills but knowledge saves. People who lack sound knowledge of God’s
Word get deceived and suffer for it.
Others are distracted and misled by weird
opinions that are expressed by atheists and agnostics in the media especially
on the Internet. But if you are well-grounded in the Word of truth, you will
not allow blind and ignorant men and women to trouble your faith about the
living God. The people who know God personally, having heard Him speak to them
in their hearts and through dreams and visions will not allow accursed men to
reason them out of their relationship with God.
The one major problem facing many Christians
including pastors is their inability to sit down, study and meditate on the
Word of God. Pastors who beg their colleagues to give them messages to preach
and teach clearly do not pray, study and meditate on the Word of God enough to
receive revelatory knowledge and inspiration to communicate divine insights to
their congregants.
The Apostle Paul urged young Pastor Timothy to
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). One reason most
pastors do not preach and teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ these days is
that they do not study the Bible.
And here, illiteracy is no excuse. All
believers must participate in teaching services and learn. If we refuse to
study the Bible, we cannot rightly divide the Word of truth. To rightly divide
the Word of truth is to accurately teach and explain the gospel of salvation.
The Word of truth is the gospel of salvation (Ephesians 1:13). It is the
message about the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ
that saves sinners from the bondage of sin and death.
When you are well grounded in the Word of
truth, you will discover your standing in Christ Jesus. You will know whether
you are a genuine born again Christian or not. A knowledgeable Christian is a
mature Christian who can detect distortions false ministers present in their
homilies to deceive, exploit and mislead the immature believers. Be a
knowledgeable Christian for your freedom and salvation.
A knowledgeable Christian will not allow
atheistic views to cause him or her to doubt God, knowing that atheists and all
Godless folks speak of what they do not understand and cannot understand unless
they are healed of their hardened hearts; the ignorance that is in them and are
drawn to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
A knowledgeable Christian will not be disturbed by bishops who publicly doubt the second coming of Jesus Christ. He or she understands that in the last days there will be scoffers who will laugh at Jesus Christ’s promise to return. And they also understand that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
By James Quansah
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