by Robert C. Veil, Jr.
Years ago, a good friend of mine was awakened in the middle of the night by what he thought
was an intruder in his basement. It was a dark, windy night, and his wife and three young children
were fast asleep. Awakened from his sleep, he distinctly heard the rattling of his outside cellar
door, as if someone was trying to break in. He did something he had never done before. He grabbed
and loaded his shotgun, and began walking toward the basement. You can imagine his relief and
surprise when he found the cellar door ajar, and simply blowing freely in the wind. When he told
me about this, he reflected on how he had heard about people getting up in the night and
accidentally shooting a spouse or family member because they thought it was an intruder. Turns
out, he did not know that the night wind was the culprit, and his ignorance could have cost innocent
lives.
Every day in this country, ignorance costs many millions of dollars as well as countless lives.
I once knew a talented financial advisor who turned out to be an opportunist. He would take
advantage of clients, especially the elderly. Using his substantial knowledge of finances and his
pleasant personality, he developed their trust, then mismanaged and misappropriated their money.
Their own ignorance of his true character cost them untold thousands of dollars. Many have lost
fortunes by investing in schemes they thought were legitimate enterprises. Others have lost their
lives by taking the wrong medications, or by ignorantly neglecting to take the proper ones. Their
ignorance proved to be very costly.
Living a successful and productive life requires the careful and proper use of knowledge,
but not just any knowledge. I once knew a young man who had an amazing memory and knowledge
of sports. He could tell me the individual stats of great baseball and football players. He knew all
of their records, their statistics. He had effortlessly memorized massive amounts of information,
but in the grand scheme of things, his knowledge was nothing of any real importance. He was
using his mind to store what could have been recorded on a computer’s hard drive. But as to
spiritual matters, he was largely unconcerned and vastly ignorant. He could tell you who had won
each Super Bowl, but he did not know how to win eternal life.
I have known others who were political geniuses. They could recite long lists of political
facts and statistics, and they knew all the machinations of politics. They had studied the electorate,
and they knew percentages of the voting public who voted on every conceivable issue. They knew
how to win elections, but they were ignorant as to how to be God’s elect.
Living a successful and productive life requires us to be informed about the “matters which
matter,” especially matters of faith and eternity. It requires us to know who we are, why we are
here, and where we are going after this short life is over. It requires us to have a working knowledge
of the Bible, the Lord’s church, and how to acceptably worship Him. Accurate knowledge of these
matters can only be obtained from someone larger than ourselves – ultimately, it can only be
derived from God.
God’s word fully informs the honest reader. It provides all the information necessary to
successfully navigate our earthly life, faithfully serving and worshiping God in the process, and
finally making it to our heavenly home to live with God for eternity. “Seeing that his divine power
hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him
that called us by his own glory and virtue,” (2 Peter 1:3).
But those who reject the Bible are rejecting vital information and guidance lovingly offered
by our God. They are choosing to be ignorant, to take the risks which ignorance involves, and to
suffer the consequences of being uninformed. Ironically, they are choosing to remain ignorant
about the most important and profound issues of life.
Yes, ignorance can be very dangerous. Doesn’t it make much more sense to simply be
informed? With a healthy respect for the Bible as God’s word, each of us can learn what we need
to make our lives successful. We can make our lives count now, and for eternity. We can avoid
the deadly pitfalls of ignorance!
