Motivated by ignorance …

When my hero in the faith uttered those words, I was shocked. I never expected to hear that kind of language from him.

As usual, he was being quite vulnerable in his sharing, and that’s when he said it …

“It’s at times like that, when I’m feeling my own ignorance, that I’m motivated to study all the more.”

Did you catch it?

There, in the middle of the sentence, he says he felt his own ignorance.

Perhaps it was because I was still in my late teens and greatly respected this man that it never occurred to me this humble, gifted, and brilliant preacher and professor would ever feel ignorant.

This man started his ministry by planting a church, went on to build a megachurch, was in the process of being used by God to build another megachurch, would later lead a Christian college to become a university while still pastoring a church, would serve as president of the North American Christian Convention, write almost 30 books, and consult with a leading missions organization and preach around the world.

No, the word “ignorant” was never one I had used when thinking about this servant of the Lord. But today, a few decades removed, I understand his statement more clearly.

Especially when I’m feeling my own ignorance.

What I learned from that single sentence uttered long ago was that leaders don’t know it all. They don’t arrive at a place where they’re equipped enough, educated enough, discipled enough. They never arrive at a place in life where they’ve learned all they need to know.

Neither do “followers.”

It’s those times when we’re especially feeling our own ignorance that we should be spurred on all the more to grow, to continue to learn, to apply ourselves even more diligently to studying the Word. As children of the Living God, we should be committed to a life of reducing our ignorance by persistently, and consistently, growing in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

It was near the end of his own life that the Apostle Peter gave us a similar exhortation:

“I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” 2 Peter 3:17-18.

Peter knew what he was talking about. He had been discipled by Jesus Christ himself, yet he could testify to great gaffes and gaps of ignorance. But he continued to learn and grow, and his life would become a great testimony for our Lord.

Will yours?

What do you do when you feel your own ignorance? Do you try to hide it? Or do you reapply yourself to greater study?

Scotty