I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. – Jeremiah 5:4

Today's Scripture Reading (May 11, 2023): Jeremiah 5

We are beginning to see a political education rift in the Western World, which seems to be a new development. Maybe it is the most pronounced in the United States, but early signals indicate that it is also coming to other countries. And not only is there an education rift, but it is flipping the political spectrum. It wasn't that long ago that if you were on the lower sides of education, you would be slightly more likely to vote for change, meaning that you spent your valuable ballot to place liberal or Democratic (U.S.) candidates in office. But if you had a college education, you voted for conservative or Republican policies. But that script has been completely flipped. Lower education levels mean you will more likely vote for conservative candidates, while those with higher education are voting for more liberal candidates. It will be a fascinating situation for armchair political operatives to watch over the next few years. And in the United States, it will also be interesting to see if education becomes a more consistent indication of voting tendencies than religion, which has ruled the voting booth in the past.

Jeremiah is searching for a righteous man. And one of his first questions is whether this is an education thing. Maybe they are not righteous simply because they don't know. So, perhaps education can change the problem. Maybe we can educate people into morality. It is a question we have been asking probably since before the days of Jeremiah. If people understand, perhaps they will be able and willing to act in a righteous way.

But as much as we have asked Jeremiah's question, we realize that the answer is, and maybe always has been, no. It isn't just education that is needed. Education might, with a heavy emphasis on that word, change our priorities, but it will not help us to be more righteous. That is something that only God can do in our lives.

Knowledge is not, nor has it ever been, a solution to our moral problems. But that does not mean that we don't still follow Jeremiah's path. Unbelievably, I have been accused of being on both sides of the spectrum. I have been charged with both lacking education and having too much education. But neither situation has made me more or less righteous. God is the only one who can do that; it is on him that we must rely if we desire to be considered moral.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 6