Christian Reflection and Prayer

Albert Einstein made famous the idea that
“imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Knowledge can tell us what to do and how to
do it, but imagination drives us to acquire more
knowledge and apply it in new and creative ways.
Knowledge without imagination is stagnant,
limited, and eventually, old.

Scripture:

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise."—Psalm 111:10

Fear of God in the spiritual realm is like knowing
how to save yourself in the physical sphere.

How so? When we come into this world, there are
inherent risks involved. We can rise to great spiritual
heights if we pursue a life of godliness, or we can
sink to the lowest levels if we pursue a life of
immorality. We are indeed in great danger from the
very moment we are born – spiritual danger, that is.
And that is the most serious danger of all because
the spiritual world is eternal and whatever happens
to us spiritually lasts forever.

This is why “fear of God” is most important. It must
precede any other kind of wisdom, because without
it, all other knowledge is irrelevant.

There is a story told about a student who approached
his rabbi with a dilemma: He only had a small amount
of time to study so he wanted to know if he should
study the Bible or mussar – the Jewish study of
character traits, including fear of God. The rabbi said,
“Study mussar because then you will realize that you
have more than just a little amount of time to study the
 Word of God.”

Fear of God puts everything else in life into perspective.
Only by making Him the center of your life and judging
your actions by His standards is all other wisdom
worthwhile.

With prayers for shalom, peace,

( Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein