The Primacy of Knowing God

The following was the article I submitted to the Times Gazette for the pastor's column:

Which is more important: that your children know their math facts or the 10 commandments? Is it more important to learn basic handwriting skills or the attributes of God?

Whether you have children or not the way you answer this question may be a gauge on whether or not you (and your children!) will enjoy a place in heaven.

Don’t get me wrong. We are not saved by knowledge or by how much we know. We can only be saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. But how much you value the knowledge of God reveals how much you value Christ.

We find something of this when David passed the crown to his son. His charge to Solomon was that he “know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind.” (1 Chron. 28:9)

This might sound odd to us. You would expect his chief command would be “guard the people” or “initiate a strong national defense system and be wary of imports from China.”

But this was not the case. The king’s chief duty was to “know the Lord.” Everything else was ancillary.

So it is to be with us. Knowledge of God’s being, character, decrees, laws, and redemptive work is to be the main focus of our lives. Our primary objective is that we, and our children, know the Lord.

Sadly though, doctrine is downplayed in our day. Theology is considered too dry and impractical. So scarcely does a father read the Scriptures with his family in the home. And rarely is a church a place where people receive significant instruction in its songs or teaching.

But this is precisely why our nation is experiencing the greatest apostasy ever. God once said of Israel, “My people die for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and a quick survey of today’s ecclesiastical landscape reveals these words to be eerily contemporary: A majority of those who call themselves Christians cannot articulate the basic tenets of the gospel. 85% of children growing up in the church leave the faith their freshmen year of college.

The knowledge of God has not been foremost in our lives. Our thirst for him has grown cold. It should be no surprise then that that we hear Christ say, “I do not know you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”

Most certainly, a little knowledge can go a long way. The thief on the cross is the perfect example of this. But the point still stands: God must be chief in our lives. Therefore, the knowledge of him must be valued and sought over everything else.

I cannot deny that math facts are important. But we must understand that knowing God and His law ranks higher. Everything else is ancillary

Better yet, a heart fixed on God is a heart that can confess with Apostle Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”