At Chapter 4 verse 1 of Ephesians there is a distinct change in emphasis in the Apostle Paul's writing. In the first three chapters he has been focused on DOCTRINE - on KNOWING certain facts about what God has done for believers by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. At 4:1, however, the emphasis shifts to DOING - on living out the implications of the truth of chapters 1-3.
If it came down to choosing one over the other, would you choose KNOWING or DOING? The same kind of question might be asked of passengers on an airline flight, preparing for take off..."Good morning, folks, this is your captain speaking. Before we take off this morning we'd like to take an informal poll...Would you prefer the LEFT wing or the RIGHT wing to remain on the aircraft for your flight today?" Of course the only sane answer would be BOTH! The same saneness is demanded to a hypothetical question regarding KNOWING or DOING? BOTH!
To change the metaphor slightly, if we only KNOW but do not put that knowing into DOING, we would be like a jet that never leaves the runway...sitting as monument to hypocrisy. On the other hand, if we try to be DOING the Christian life without also KNOWING the WHAT, WHY and WHO of it, we will eventually spiral out of control into a fiery moral crash.
Another picture of this might found in the building of a house. Suppose a work crew showed up at the building site of your new home, supplied with fresh, accurate, beautifully packaged BLUE PRINTS and then promptly sat down for the entire work day only to read and mull over the prints? You'd be incensed. What are the blue prints for?! They are to guide BUILDING! On the other hand, suppose a crew shows up to the work site with NO blue prints but each worker with a different idea of what the house ought to look like and how to go about building it? They have no idea what you, the owner, wants...they are just zealous to build and want to get on with it. THAT might end up a very interesting house, but not one you'd want to live in and certainly not one that would match YOUR PLANS.
God created us to KNOW the truth and to LIVE OUT the truth. That fact is reflected strongly in letters like Ephesians, where DOCTRINE is carefully laid out as a FOUNDATION for DOING. The only BALANCED Christian life is one with BOTH WINGS, Knowing and Doing, an equal part of every day life. The BALANCED Christian life is one where the Blue Prints of the Word are constantly consulted so that there can be BUILDING of a life that is pleasing to God...and useful.
As you read the Scriptures in your devotions or as you listened to a sermon from the Word yesterday (Sunday), did you listen not only to KNOW what God had to say, but also to be equipped to DO what He says? Has there been APPLICATION of the Word? Wow, I am SO OFTEN guilty of listening without the intention of DOING. Lord, have mercy on me and make me more and more the man James speaks of in James 1:25:
"But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."
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