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Does Your Living Match Your Knowledge
060627 Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Daily Devotional
By Brent Riggs
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1John 2:3 "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." NKJV)
I heard a sermon from a dear missionary who has faithfully served for over 50 years. He made a comment that struck me both as disturbing, and sadly truthful. He said:
"In the church today we have more Biblical knowledge and resources than at any other time in history and it is my experience that we also have less Bible living than I have ever seen in my lifetime".
As a teacher I see the same thing often. We have unprecedented access to Biblical resources and our knowledge is at an all-time high. It is important that our living match our knowledge.
- Has the holiness in your daily life paralleled and grown with the Bible knowledge you enjoy in this culture of religious freedom, books, TV, tapes, churches and an endless well of teaching and resources?
- In looking at how you spend your time, is it obvious where your love is: the Word, or the world?
- In looking at your bank statements, is it obvious where your treasure lies: in Heaven or on earth?
- In measuring your thoughts, do you desire more of God or more of this life?
1John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.... let's ask some comparison questions as we continue to evaluate our "Bible living". First, the lust of the flesh:
- Is your appetite for more of God's Word and more intimacy with the Savior? Or for more indulgences (gluttony, sexual immorality, entertainment, pleasure)?
- Is there unconfessed sin or willing lust that you practice in your life? Movies? Internet? Food? Drink? Sex?
Lust of the eyes:
- Do you covet the things of God, or covet what others have that you don't have?
- Do you allow yourself to view and soak in the sensual earthly lusts that surround you in this culture?
The pride of life:
- Do you long for recognition, accomplishment and prestige in the eyes of those around you? Or do you recognize the superior satisfaction that comes from obeying God, investing in heavenly treasure and being in right standing with God?
- Are you, honestly, more interested in what people think about you, or what God thinks about you?
To finish, lets look at some practical indications of "Bible living" taken from 1John:
- 1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
- 1 John 2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
- 1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
- 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
- 1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God
- 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
- and finally, James tell us: 1:22-27 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Are these verses characteristic of your daily life? If no, you may not be applying your Bible knowledge to practical "Bible living". James calls that a "hearer" who is deceiving himself and not a "doer" who is blessed by God. Become a person who DOES God's Word, not one who simply learns more of it. Let your "living" match your growing knowledge.
Father, help us to take our abundant resources of Christian knowledge and apply them to our daily living. Help us to hate evil, obey your commands and choose holiness over the lusts of our sinful nature. Forgive us for our failures in the past. Give us strength to "Bible live" today. Give us the faith to not worry about tomorrow. Amen.
Contemplation: Do Christian books, tapes or shows take the place of your Bible reading and pray? Does your spiritual maturity parallel the amount of Christian resources you have access to? Are you living what you are learning?
Application: It is a temptation of pride to become knowledgeable while our obedience lags behind. It is also easy to let Christian resources (books, tapes, TV, music) take the place of simple prayer and Bible reading. As your knowledge grows, evaluate your life. It should be growing in holiness as your knowledge about God increases.
- What is the most obvious Bible truth you have learned today?
- What change in your life needs to be made concerning this truth?
- What specific thing will you do today to begin that change?
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Does Your Living Match Your Knowledge
060627 Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Daily Devotional
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1John 2:3
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Recently it was my privilege to hear a sermon from a dear missionary who has faithfully served for over 50 years. He made a comment that struck me both as disturbing, and sadly truthful. He said:
In the church today we have more Biblical knowledge and resources than at any other time in history and it is my experience that we also have less Bible living than I have ever seen in my lifetime. |
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A Few Bible Verses that contain "knowledge":
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him `be' the glory both now and for ever. Amen.
2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first.
2 Peter 1:8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:6 and in `your' knowledge self-control; and in `your' self-control patience; and in `your' patience godliness;
2 Peter 1:5 Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in `your' virtue knowledge;
2 Peter 1:3 seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue;
2 Peter 1:2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
1 Peter 3:7 Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with `your wives' according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered.
1 Peter 1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,
Philemon 1:6 that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ.
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
2 Timothy 3:7 ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Timothy 2:25 in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth,
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard that which is committed unto `thee', turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called;
1 Timothy 2:4 who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Colossians 2:3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
Colossians 1:10 to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard `it', do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Philippians 3:8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;
Ephesians 4:13 till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Ephesians 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
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