Yes, I know that...
A man went on a trip to another country and left his business manager in charge of his new company. The owner told his manager that he was going to send very specific information about how to run the business. When the owner came back, he found the building in disrepair, the workers sleeping at the job, and people waiting outside to be helped. He then looked for the business manager and found him playing cards with other workers. The owner asked “did you not receive my letters about how to run the business?” The manager said "yes! We love the wisdom of your letters and we appreciated them so much that we even had employees memorizing them. We also framed them and displayed them on the walls. We love your letters…"
This business manager saw the wisdom of the instructions of the letters, but failed to see the wisdom of the application. Sometimes even mature believers may find themselves in similar circumstances. Sometimes it is easy to think that just because we have accumulated biblical knowledge that we are obeying God. Maturity does not come from only knowing but also by doing the word of God. Knowledge by itself has the capacity to make the believer puffed up; but when that knowledge is put into action, growth happens in the form of humility. It is in the doing that we find out how difficult it is to obey God and in this doing we also discover His strength, His power and His grace.
In the other extreme, we can find believers with deficient biblical knowledge resulting in a life centered on performance. This lifestyle may look good, but has no power to change the believer. This could be represented by the manager ignoring the letters of the owner and create a great business, but one that the owner did not want.
Erring in any of those two extremes is not only unwise but in fact a deception as it is written in James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. Merely knowing the truth of God is not enough; Satan himself has more knowledge about the word of God that any human being, but he does not do it. So as believers we want to become what God wants us to become, thus we need to start by putting into practice our biblical knowledge. The word of God is very precious to Him and knowing His word demands action. It is our responsibility to become doers of the word, otherwise we will remain deceived.
This business manager saw the wisdom of the instructions of the letters, but failed to see the wisdom of the application. Sometimes even mature believers may find themselves in similar circumstances. Sometimes it is easy to think that just because we have accumulated biblical knowledge that we are obeying God. Maturity does not come from only knowing but also by doing the word of God. Knowledge by itself has the capacity to make the believer puffed up; but when that knowledge is put into action, growth happens in the form of humility. It is in the doing that we find out how difficult it is to obey God and in this doing we also discover His strength, His power and His grace.
In the other extreme, we can find believers with deficient biblical knowledge resulting in a life centered on performance. This lifestyle may look good, but has no power to change the believer. This could be represented by the manager ignoring the letters of the owner and create a great business, but one that the owner did not want.
Erring in any of those two extremes is not only unwise but in fact a deception as it is written in James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. Merely knowing the truth of God is not enough; Satan himself has more knowledge about the word of God that any human being, but he does not do it. So as believers we want to become what God wants us to become, thus we need to start by putting into practice our biblical knowledge. The word of God is very precious to Him and knowing His word demands action. It is our responsibility to become doers of the word, otherwise we will remain deceived.
