Pursuing God Above An Education
The pursuit of knowledge can be dangerous. J.I Packer says in his book, Knowing God,
“If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go
bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited.” There is a chance
that if we pursue knowledge and an education and dreams, that we begin
to pursue those things instead of God. And so I offer a caveat to my last post–dear girls of my conservative world, do hunger for knowledge and dream your dreams and live a worthwhile life. But hunger for God first.
It’s what my Uncle Lester said at my
graduation, speaking from Psalms 37. “Delight yourself in the Lord and
he will give you the desires of your heart.” Too often we find the
desires of our heart and we go chasing after them. I desire to be
educated and to teach, and so I go chasing my dreams. Another girl
dreams of starting a business or catching the perfect Christian guy and
she chases those dreams. Our dreams can be good. They can also be
misleading. Too often we say, “Here is my dream and I’m delighting in
you Lord, so bless me now and give me this desire!” It can be like that
with getting an education. If I pursue knowledge just so I can have
knowledge, I have missed the point.
If my heart is captivated by God, and delighting in Him, the dreams and desires will follow. Not MY dreams, but His.
If I delight in learning and growing as an individual more than I
delight in God, then a very good thing has been turned on its head.
It all comes down to the purpose behind
living. Are you living for yourself or for God? If I live for myself it
doesn’t matter whether I become an educated woman that does all kinds of
good things or whether I just hang out with friends all my days. The
end result is still the same–wasted time. If I live to follow God’s path
and pursue what He wants, not what I want, then how I spend my time and
my life really matters. Only when I pursue God first can I truly get a
worthwhile education that will become an asset.
So pursue knowledge. Pursue worthwhile things and become a well rounded woman. But always remember–pursue God first.
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