This past week, I have been listening to several teachings about putting your faith into action. What does that mean exactly? In short, whatever the Bible says to do, do it. Whatever the Bible says is truth, believe it. (Click here to listen to this message.)
The book of James says it like this: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Here’s a simplistic example. Let’s say there’s a light switch in your room. You have heard that if it is turned on, light will fill the room. You’ve even read a book about it.
Yet, you have never once flipped the switch. The result? You sit in darkness. So, you believe and know that turning on the light switch will illuminate the room, but you’ve never done it. And because you have no experience with it, you can’t tell anyone about it.
They wouldn’t believe you, right?
You have knowledge. You have information. But you have no experience. And without experience, the things you know may not seem real or believable to you or anyone else.
This is how it can be sometimes with God’s Word. We read it. We know it. We may even have parts of it memorized. But if we don’t step out into the truths it declares, our lives remain the same. We stay stuck in whatever stuckness we may be in.
God’s Word is truth. One hundred percent absolute truth. Not opinion. Not hype. Not click-bait. Every word is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and was written to help us navigate the short amount of time we are here on this planet.
God is so gracious! He gave us a user manual for life. For every situation we will face, He has the answer. But if we don’t read it, we won’t know the answer. And if we read it but never put it into action, we won’t experience all the good God has promised us.
And believe me. God has a lot of good in store for us!
This week, I’d like to encourage you to grab your Bible. Read the Gospel of John. It’s all about Jesus’ life. Pay attention to His words and His actions. You will quickly see two things:
- He only said what He heard His Father say.
- He only did what His Father told Him to do.
Pay attention to the outcomes of His words and actions. I suspect it won’t be long before you see that they are aligned and there was always an amazing outcome. And when we do what Jesus did, we can expect the same.