Act Up!

Dear friends,

One of the things I’ve learned in life is that knowledge doesn’t always translate to action. For example, we know that eating junk food isn’t good for us, but all too often we still do it. We know that exercising regularly helps our bodies, but too many of us still don’t do it. We’re told as children not to touch hot pans, but some of us can’t help but do it. In other words, just because we know something doesn’t necessarily mean we will live it out. And unfortunately, that’s even true in our spiritual lives.

Here's what I mean - we tend to listen to preaching, and enjoy Bible-based podcasts, and read devotionals that give us helpful strategies for living the Christian life, but this great wealth of information that we accumulate doesn't necessarily translate into a true change in how we live. Too many of us, who know what the Bible says, still struggle to connect those truths to our daily lives. And even more importantly, we struggle to connect what we know, to what God wants to do in and through us in the context of the real world in which we live.

And that’s a serious problem because having an awareness of what is right, but choosing not to do it, is actually sin. James 4:17 makes this clear as it tells us, “It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” What we see in this passage is the reality that it’s not enough to just know the right things, we need to actually do them as well.

The things we learn from our Bible and from preaching and from podcasts and devotionals should move us to action. So today, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to take all that we’ve learned as Christians, and move us to action. Let’s ask God to help us not let His truth and knowledge and wisdom lay dormant in our minds, but to instead motivate us to words and actions and attitudes that will transform our lives, and the lives of those around us.

Amen?

Daniel