You Don't Have to Know a Lot

I was thinking today about something I heard John Piper say in a message. I don't have the exact quote, but it was something like "you don't have to know a lot to be used by God in a great way. You only have to know a few glorious, all-consuming...truths, and be set on fire by them".

I was thinking about a problem I have noticed in our day. It is a matter of cultural influence in our thinking. The problem I see is that we tend to think that if you are a converted athlete, a Christian rock artist, a missionary that has led hundreds to Christ, and so on, then you are more useful to God. This is simply not true. If it were, than I would have every reason to be discouraged. But this is not the case! God can use me, if I commit to following him, and growing in my passion for his renown.

The gospel is what we need to be set on fire by. And don't be fooled into thinking that this means we pray for a heart for the lost, and pray for a desire to evangelize. I have found it to be true in my own life that if I have to pray for those things, then I have a greater underlying problem - my relationship with my Saviour. When my relationship with Christ is deep and rich and pure and sweet, then the rest comes naturally.

This may have been a big babble of ideas, but this is what I am saying: Take heart! If you seek after the Lord with all your energy, and establish the truths of his word in your heart, then God will use you! You don't need a Ph.D. You need truth, and a passion about that truth!