NLT James 1:22-25
"And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself.
For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face
in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law-- the law that sets you free-- and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."
"And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself.
For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face
in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law-- the law that sets you free-- and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."
This is a topic that has come up a number of times this month and I thought it would be worth "chewing on" this morning.
What did you study in the Word yesterday? ... last week? ... last month?
Maybe you can remember ... maybe you can't. But let me ask you this...what... SPECIFICALLY ... from God's Word has CHANGED you lately. Not just gotten you excited or even intrigued you ... but has changed the way you think and thus ... the way you live!!
This is MUCH harder than you may think. Howard Hendricks in his EXCELLENT book on how to study the Bible for yourself ("Living by the Book" ... a MUST read if you want to be a good student of Scripture) addresses this very problem in very clear terms.
"... we frequently come to the Bible to study it, to teach it, to preach it, to outline it - everything except to be changed by it." - Hendricks p. 284
He goes on to explain that we are often fooled to think that acquiring new or "deeper" knowledge in a passage is the same thing as change or growth. He states that "...Even if they did read and study God's Word faithfully, what would they do about it? What practical difference would it make in their lives? This is a question you need to ponder as we come to the third step of Bible study, application. Application is the most neglected yet the most needed stage in the process. Too much Bible study begins and ends in the wrong place: it begins Interpretation, and it also ends there." - Hendricks p. 283
His point ? ... we are SO intent on understanding the passages meaning that we don't want to take the time and effort "up front" to do the hard and tedious work of "observation" (step 1 in the process of serious Bible study) ... but rather ... we will just run to commentaries or other's sermons for that. And, secondly, once we have come to understand a passage ... we OFTEN neglect the hard (and painful) process of seeing to it that we make CHANGE that is clear and accurate to the text ... APPLICATION.
Let's be very cautious that we do this. It takes time ... LOTS of time to make good, clear, specific application. It also is painful. It costs us something. CHANGE always does. So .... Instead of applying 1 Cor. 13 by closing your Bible and saying "I need to love more" ... then going on your merry way unchanged, but very pleased that you have learned and stated a vague need that was very comfortable and FORGETTABLE. Why don't we stop and list out all the ways we are not loving (not patient, rude, selfish, partial, hypocritical) and why ... and what we can do today to begin changing.
APPLY what you learn. Those with IMMENSE Biblical knowledge and NO change have been around since the time of Christ ... ask any PHARISEE.
CHEW ON IT !