Knowing And Doing

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.

James 1:23

A well-known seminary professor spent a summer studying in Jerusalem. In his apartment building lived an orthodox Jewish rabbi, with whom he studied Hebrew throughout the summer. One day the professor sat and listened to his Jewish friend recite the entire Book of Psalms, in Hebrew, without missing so much as a jot or a tittle.

The lesson he brought back was the same lesson Jesus taught in Matthew 7:24–27: It is not the hearers and “knowers” of God’s Word who will be blessed, but the doers. The knowledge of God’s Word is important—without it, God’s people have been known to suffer (Hosea 4:6). But great knowledge can also water the root of pride in the sinful human heart (1 Corinthians 8:1).

One man said that to consume the Bible without putting it into practice is the equivalent of going into a fine restaurant and eating the menu while ignoring the meal. Which are you more focused on in your Christian life: knowing the Word for the sake of knowing it, or knowing it in order to put it into practice?

Knowing the Bible should lead to living the Bible, which leads to honoring the Author of the Bible.