Ignorant Men

REAL ISSUE: IGNORANT VS. IG'NANT

I sat in the very back of the bus a few days ago between five men – four black, one white – all ranging in ages from 18 to mid 50’s. Though varied in ages, temperaments, and swag; they all had one thing in common – ignorance. Hear me out! Not ignorant as in ig’nant. But ignorant as in they lacked exposure to the finer things in life. More importantly they lacked God! Hosea 4:6 says, ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have REJECTED knowledge…’

These men were ignorant because they lacked the knowledge of God. Yet these same men spoke authoritatively on how many grams were in a dub and were quite knowledgeable about the price of corn (weed) today as compared to 2004 and 2005. I listened as they spoke eloquently about the Dallas Mavericks and even predicted you couldn’t get a good job without a high school diploma. One even bragged about being 21 and not having his diploma while the others joked about it. I watched discretely as the elder of the men nodded as if to give his approval of their dissemination of the thesis at hand. I listened intently because though they were young and male, we all had one thing in common – we lacked the knowledge to get the transportation needed to avoid our overheated, slightly crowded seating conditions.

The old me would have judged them, but the new me knows that all they need is knowledge and exposure into new territories other than traps and county jails. They needed an education; first spiritual, then formal. Because these same dudes who understand the measurement system and have been following the pricing trends of marijuana for the last 7 years of their young lives, could actually excel on Wall Street as stockbrokers or even as salesmen or chemists for a large pharmaceutical company – with the right education and exposure to the knowledge of God.

I empathized with them because that education and exposure often comes through elders. But if the elders themselves are unexposed, uneducated, and unknowledgeable, what can they do?

As I sat through the entire trip, I wanted to hand them my BFF’s new book, ‘Kingmakers: Weapons of Our Warfare’, but I couldn’t. In this book, he directs the fatherless to the Heavenly Father and those needing a role model to the throne of God with a practical, hood type, yet executive approach. But because I didn’t have the finances to equip myself with the resources they needed, I decided in that moment that I would make sure I have something other than judgment, to give those men. Won’t you join me?

OUR ASSIGNMENT

The next time we see people of any persuasion behave ig’nantly, pray and ask God to open their hearts so that they can receive His Holy Spirit and confess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Pray that God would send laborers their way to minister, mentor, and provide opportunities for employment and/or education. Even if you don’t have the money, you can do something.

For my economically stable readers, prayerfully consider buying several copies of the Bible to distribute. Purchase several copies of inspiring, godly material such as ‘Kingmakers: Weapons of our Warfare’ [To purchase go to: kingmakers 2011.eventbrite.com/] and just give the material to those young men – without a lecture and without expecting so much as even a thank you.

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