What Is Worth Knowing?
by Tammy Darling in Faith on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 6:00 AM
Because we are human, we are creatures who know, who want to know, or who think we know. But the question we must ask is what is worth knowing?
My kids have a 224-page book entitled Every Minute on Earth (Steve and Matthew Murrie, Scholastic Reference). This book is full of “fun facts that happen every 60 seconds.” While it is interesting to know that in the time it takes to read this paragraph that 2,137 pounds of popcorn will be eaten or that 750,000 gallons of water will tumble over Niagara Falls, it is the surplus of this sort of information that leads me to question, what is worth knowing?
We live in a time in which change happens exponentially. It is not possible to keep up with neither the changes nor the knowledge that expounds from the changes.
I recently read that a week’s worth of information in the New York Times contains more information than people were likely to encounter in their entire lifetimes in the 18th century. And yet, we’re no better off for the knowledge we have acquired. We have gone from a godly nation founded on Christian principles to one that no longer acknowledges God.
Living in the Information Age has done little to satisfy our curiosity nor has it made us any wiser than past generations. Smart people still do foolish things.
I am a firm believer that what I take into my life is what will come out. If I plant a negative seed, I won’t reap a positive harvest. If I take in useless information, I won’t be much of a contributor to society. Garbage in, garbage out someone once said. As such, I must determine what is worthy of being taken in.
Many things in this world are interesting, humorous, or even downright amazing, but that doesn’t mean they are worth knowing. Because knowledge is interminable, I must choose what is worth knowing.
Knowledge is only part of the equation. I can have the blueprint for my dream house, but unless I also have wisdom and understanding I can never implement the blueprint. I must take what I choose to know to the next level.
As I put aside my preconceived ideas of what is worth knowing, I find myself drawn to the eternal. I find myself gravitating towards knowing God and seeking to fulfill my destiny.
The Hebrew idea of knowing encompasses experience and intimacy, which for us means love for God and obedience to Him. Therefore, anything worth knowing should somehow lead us closer to God. Jesus prayed to His Father, “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3).
In 2008 there were 31 billion searches per month on Google. Many people will search; few will find what they are really looking for. Worldly knowledge is vast, but it cannot compare to the knowledge of knowing God.
If loving God is our highest goal then, it should be the primary focus of our lives. Only as we put aside the partial can we embrace the complete. When we put aside that which is limited, we can embrace that which is unlimited.
I want my life to have impact. For that to happen, I need focus. I have to stop dabbling and concentrate on what matters most. So does it really matter that I know that in the next 60 seconds 21,000 pizzas will be baked or that the average person blinks about 15 times? Not at all. I can only become effective as I become selective about the knowledge I amass.
My greatest contribution to the building of God’s kingdom won’t come from what I know but from Whom I know. And that’s a bit of information worth knowing.
—Tammy Darling writes from her home in Three Springs, Pensylvania, where she also homeschools her four daughters.
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