By David ReayTuesday 21 Jan 2020LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 2 minutes
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. (THE MESSAGE)
In April 1912, a man sat in a small office onboard an ocean liner in the North Atlantic. He took a radio message from another ship warning of icebergs nearby. The radio operator passed the information on to the captain but no action was taken. And so the Titanic sank. Not because of lack of information but because of failing to act on that information.
Many of us know our Bibles, we believe the correct doctrines. But if we do not act on what we know our information is useless. I may look in a mirror and notice I have leftover breakfast cereal on my chin. The mere fact of knowing it doesn’t remove it. I need to act on what I have seen.
The Scripture scholars of Jesus’ day knew their Scriptures well but because they hadn’t applied their knowledge to the coming of Jesus it left them estranged from him. A person who knows a lot about the Bible may not know Jesus.
Similarly with our reading the Bible. I may read it regularly and know it well, but unless my life changes as a result it does me no good. A brief or distracted reading of it will not penetrate my human defences. True Christian faith is not just beliefs but behaviour, not just words but works.
Blessings
David