Knowing vs Doing the Word of God

There is a big difference between knowing vs doing the Word of God!

When Christopher, our son, was about seven years old he and I planned an overnight camping trip to a small park close to our home in western Iowa. We packed our tent, sleeping bags and fishing poles since there was a small lake in the park that had a large fishing dock which extended quite a way into the water. I had told him that we would eat all the fish we caught and cook them over our campfire for dinner and/or breakfast, so Christopher was really excited about the prospect of catching his first fish. As we approached the dock that evening, there were a number of older fishermen who were obviously veteran anglers scattered around the railings fishing for crappie – our choice of fish as well. We found a spot, filled our bucket with lake water, fixed our lures and began fishing. In typical childish impatience, Christopher soon became discouraged with the lack of activity on his line. To encourage him and keep him focused, I suggested that we “wriggle” his lure in the water to make it more appealing to a fish. When he did, almost immediately he hooked a nice crappie about 10 inches long and soon had it out of the water and in the bucket. Thus ended his interest in fishing as he proceeded to carry that fish to each of the other fishermen on the dock to show them his catch and to helpfully suggest that they needed to “wriggle” their bait the way he did in order to change their luck as well. There’s nothing like a little bit of knowledge or experience to turn us into an “expert” on a subject.

Sometimes we act the same way when it comes to scriptural knowledge – we learn something and then act as if that’s the end of the matter; even thinking that all we need to do is just “teach” others what we know and that will bring salvation to their lives. We get distracted by the learning and forget about the “doing” – like Christopher dropping his pole to become the resident fishing instructor. Jesus tried really hard throughout His earthly ministry to demonstrate that knowledge is not to be possessed but used as fuel to “do” the will of God. The Holy Spirit continues that urgent call in our lives as He works to convince us to “pick up our pole” and really apply what He has taught us to our everyday living. Only then will we be able to give others “Real Answers”!

How exciting to be His people,

Pastor David Vanderpool