Sunday, February 13th – LISTENING And Doing

So many of us Christians are listeners, we focus on hearing, reading and learning the word rather than doing the word. We give Sunday school awards to those who memorize the word rather than those who live according to it. We come to church to hear word but do we go home to live the word? Someone said that “many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right.”

Sir Henry Brackenbury (1837-1914) was a military attaché in Paris, he was talking with the distinguished French statesman Leon Gambetta. “In these days,” said Gambetta, “there are only two things a soldier needs to know. He must know how to march, and he must know how to shoot!”

The Englishman quickly responded, “I beg your pardon, Excellency, but you have forgotten the most important thing of all!” “What’s that?” asked Gambetta. Brackenbury replied, “He must know how to obey!”

This truth also applies to followers of Jesus Christ. It’s not enough for us to know the facts about Christianity so that we can look like a soldier of Christ. What’s most important is that we accept the Word of God by faith and then obey it (James 1:22).

We should never be satisfied with only an intellectual awareness of how to live. We should not study the Scriptures merely to acquaint ourselves with knowledge about God. It takes more than know-how to please our Lord and Master, He expects obedience.

Put your knowledge into action. Submit to the supreme authority of Christ the Lord. Someone wrote “one step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.”