For over a week, I told myself, “I know I need to back up my hard-drive before something happens and I lose all my recent writing and lessons.” Every computer user who has lost their data knows this truth. But then comes that ominous moment when the screen goes dark and your computer will not reboot—a power surge, a lightning strike, a virus, a trojan, or a physical failure of the hard-drive, it doesn’t matter, your information is gone. “I knew this would happen sooner or later”, but I did not act upon what I knew.
Millions of people celebrated Christmas last week. A majority would tell you they know Jesus lived and died; many would say He even rose again. However, for some this acknowledgement never moves beyond intellectual information. Jesus said merely hearing the word is not enough; we must do, act upon His words. Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say (Luk 6:46)?
In Scripture knowing and believing, express two distinct concepts. The five words translated ‘know’ all share the basic meaning of data retained in our minds through reading, hearing, or experiencing. Some of it we recollect for only a short period; some we can recall for the remainder of our life. This includes teachings from the Bible. Believe and faith are the English translations of the same word. The definition infers that believing or having faith allows what we know to influence our actions and attitudes. Biblical belief or faith entails ‘doing’. If we do not take knowledge to the next step of believing or faith by putting it into action, it remains just a fact in our mind. James sums it up well. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin (Jas 4:17).
In His parable of one house built on a rock and one on sand, Jesus clearly illustrates the results of hearing (knowing) and doing versus hearing and not doing. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. v25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. v26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. v27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (Matt 7:24-27). The meaning of ‘do or does’ in the New Testament means initiating a way of expressing by an action the knowledge, thoughts, and feelings received from the Bible.
Through the years, my computer has crashed several times destroying all my documents. Thank the Lord, I was able to piece together from printed handouts and lessons stored on thumb drives and recover most of the information. However, this proved difficult and time consuming. How much easier it would have been if I had made a backup sooner just as I knew I should. How much time do you spend recovering from mistakes, sins, or failures, which would have never taken place if you had put into action what you knew from God’s word or directions from the Holy Spirit? Peter tells us God has given everything we need for life and for living a life pleasing to Him if we apply or do what we know from scripture. His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him . . . now for this very reason also, applying all diligence . . . (2Pe 1:3, 5). Note the words true knowledge and applying in other words doing what we know.
What if Noah had not acted upon the warning God gave him concerning the coming flood? How different would the story of Joseph and Mary be if Joseph had not acted upon the dream from God and taken Mary as his wife or not acted upon the warning from God of danger from Herod and fled to Egypt with Mary and Jesus? How different would the world be if Adam and Eve had done what God commanded and not eaten from the tree? How blessed would the history of Israel have been if they had acted upon God’s promise and entered the land the first time instead of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years?
All of us have our ‘what if’ and ‘how different’ stories because we did not apply the true knowledge from Christ. This past year you may have failed to take the step of putting what you know into action. Now, you are attempting to put the bits and pieces back together. My son recently lost a lifetime of data when a hard-drive crashed. After days of futile attempts, he located a computer engineer who could retrieve his files but charged a small fortune. Your life may have totally crashed this year, but we serve the Designer, Creator, and Master engineer who can restore any life and best of all, it is free—a gift of His grace.
Sustaining Word for the Week: Turn your crash over to Jesus. Move beyond just knowing the truth and begin doing the truth.