The Value of Knowledge 知识的价值
Author: Goh Hun Keng
Translate: Sis Charis Ong
“Hosea relayed the message of God to the people of Israel, saying “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” ”
In those days, the priests abandoned the Word of God and did not teach the laws to the people, causing them to do evil, commit killing amongst themselves and ultimately led the people to perish. As such, God removed the priests from their positions. The same applies today, that in our area of service, no matter the position or nature of work, if we do not put our hearts and minds to acquire the necessary knowledge required for the tasks, then there is no way we can help others or ourselves, not to mention be pleasing in God’s sight or receive His rewards.
Knowledge is attained through continuous and diligent learning, and I think one of the incentives to learn comes when I am convicted to serve better and help more of those who are in need. Exercising righteousness with knowledge is wisdom. If we want to know God, we need to know His Word and Law, and only then can we truly know how to serve. Serving with a firm foundation in the knowledge of the Bible and in other areas of life also allows us to experience the grace of God. God desires to give us joy and abundant lives, which includes wealth and assets, physical, emotional, and spiritual health – not poverty and sickness. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told a parable about a master who entrusted to each of his servants five talents, two talents and one talent, according to the individual’s ability. I suppose that is how much each of their ability and knowledge was deemed worth. Now, God similarly places us in different positions to serve according to individual’s talents – the one who received five talents is a true steward of God who knows his Master. In contrast, the one who received one talent does not understand the will of God and thus lost the trust of the Master and was reprimanded for being lazy and evil.
Perhaps, we may sometimes reject responsibilities entrusted by the Church, using our busy scheduled and lack of time as reasons, which inevitably affects ministry work. The ability to serve and academic qualifications have not direct correlation, instead, it has to do with God-given gifts and an individual’s effort to learn. Therefore, we must humble ourselves to learn and seize the time when we are still young and strong, leverage on our knowledge advantage to do a better job of our mission work, and not be that ignorant one.
文/吴汉卿弟兄
“何西阿先知将神的话告诉以色列人说：「我的民因无知识而亡。你弃掉知识，我也必弃掉你，使你不再给我作祭师…」”
当时，祭师弃掉神的话，没有将律法知识教导人民遵守，以致他们行恶，互相残杀导致人民灭亡。因此神就把祭师的职位撤掉。同样在现今，我们在事奉的功课上，无论任何职份，若对所负责的事工，没有用心去学习掌握该具备的知识，不能造就自己，也帮不了他人，更得不到神的喜悦和赏赐。
知识是由不断刻苦学习中累积才得到的，我想一个能鼓励人学习的因素(Incentives to learn)，是在当我立志要去更好的事奉，要帮助更多有需要的人的时候产生的。以知识行公义，就是智慧。我们若是要认识神，必需对他的话和律法有真正认识，才能懂得如何事奉。以明白圣经和具备多方面的知识来事奉，也可从中体会神的恩典。神要赐给人的，不是贫困疾病，而是喜乐丰盛的生命，包含金钱产业和身心灵的健康。马太福音耶稣讲比喻，说有一个主人分五千，二千和一千两银子给三个仆人去经营生意，是按照各人的才干，分给他们。我想，仆人的才干知识的价值，分别相当五千，二千和一千两银子。现在，神也按照我们各人的才干知识，处在不同的岗位事奉，那拿五千的，是真正认识神的好管家。反之，那拿一千的，对神缺乏认识，不明白神的心意，以致失去主人的信任，被责为又懒又恶的仆人。
或者我们有时也会以忙碌，没时间为理由，来推卸教会委托给我们的责任，以至于影响事工。事奉的能力与学业文凭高低并没有直接关系，而是以恩赐加上个人努力的学习。因此，我们都要谦虚学习，当乘还是年轻力壮的时候，用知识的优势 (Knowledge advantage)，把使命的工作做得更加完美，不要做那无知的人。