Knowing or Living?

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like.

-James 1:22-24

We all have heard the bible stories and the teachings that Jesus did, but are we truly applying them to our lives?
I hear so much about how people accept Jesus Christ into their lives and coming to church on Sunday and Wednesdays is good enough for their Christian walk with Christ? Is that how He truly wants us to live, to just accept Him and come to church twice a week, giving praise and offering and then going home and living our worldy lives?

WAKE UP!! Church is the house of God, where we come for refreshment, revival, refueling and what we learn in church is what we should be applying to our everyday lives when we are out of church, but it seems that that concept has been forgotten. We think being a part of the church and serving at church is doing good, but its easy to be churchy at church around religious people, but are you the same way at work, school, around your friends, by yourself??

I see many youth jumpin up and down during praise and worship songs, are you jumpin up and down for Christ when you leave church? I see adults being courteous, helping, encouraging to others at church, are you treating others at your work place the same? Think about how you are at church and how you are out of church, are you the same person?
Knowing God's word, we all know God's word. I like what James says in Chapter 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." We all know God exists, even the demons believe that and what, SHUDDER, but do you even fear God? Its possible the demons even know what God teaches, how else would they know how to attack you and try to draw you in, even the demons might know His words, knowing God's word and living God's word are 2 completely different things!

Its like saying, we all say this at times, yea I know how to do that, yea I've done that before, but does that make you good at it? No, just like an NBA All-Star, they practice, practice, practice, applying the basic fundamentals and advanced fundamentals to increase their game which helps open up their talents in the sport which makes them exceed above the rest. Are we practicing, are we applying the basic fundamentals, are we reaching to an area where we can find our talents, the gifts that God gives us, to make us exceed in our spiritual lives?? For a lot of us, NO, because we get so discouraged if our prayers aren't answered, we get so discouraged because things aren't going the right way, we get distracted by the things around us, we get this and that this and that, EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES!!

James 1:4 says, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Don't you know God is building you up during these times??

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. But we don't boast in our weakness, we fall away and complain when it specifically says in Philippians 2:14-15, 14 "Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky." But we complain all the time, WHAT ARE WE DOING?? He says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Are we paying attention to what He is saying??

Everything is in God's hands, why are we complaining, why are we falling away, why aren't we trusting in our Lord with all our hearts and constantly leaning on our own understandings?? That is not applying God's words to your life! I apologize if I'm coming off a little emotional with this, but it strikes my heart because after I lost everything and had nothing, I realized that this passage was true:

Ecclesiastes 7:29 "God created humankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes." As we are in constant search of success, career goals, finances, accomplishments, dreams, etc, we are slowly pulling away from God, don't you see. C.S. Lewis in the Screwtape Letters says that if a deck of cards can draw a man away from God, then murder is no better than that deck of cards and we all think murder is so horrible, yes it is, but the point here is that murder didnt draw this man away from God, his gambling problems did, that deck of cards drew his attention away from God and made him fall away. What is your deck of cards? What hand are you playing? Is your work, worries, stresses, frsutrations, challenges, struggles, obstacles, I could go on and on and on, are they pulling you away from God?

This is why it is so important to act upon His word because is provides us with the training we need to get through and endure all of these things. The journey with God is not for quick and swift, it is for the ones who can endure. I like the movie Coach Carter because its the 4th quarter, Richmond are the underdogs and they have come back to try and win the game against their rivalry, the best team in their division, and when given the last chance to win the game, Richmond shoots and misses the shot and they lose the game. They wanted to win the game so bad, but they lost, but at the end of the game Coach Carter shares with them that during this time, they have grown from boys to men, that the loss did not matter and it didnt. At the end, they stood proud because they knew for themselves they have grown away from their fears and what held them back and became men. This is how we need to be, at points in our life we work so hard to get to a certain point, but when we get close, things dont go the way we want them to turn out, but in reality they have gone exacly the way God planned for them to turn out because God's plan is for us to grow and mature through our hardest trying times, we are just too easily discouraged. Also, God is trying to constantly show us what His plan is, He is preparing our tables, but we are so blind to this fact. But, if we practice hard at His word, apply it to our lives, even through the hardest times, we can stand tall and say we have grown into great men and women of faith because we know that God has built us up during these times because He is always faithful and He never breaks His promises to us.

So, brothers and sisters, act upon His word, dont just merely listen and know, but live His word. It will prepare you for any battle in life and ultimately build your relationship with God. It will open your eyes and heart to what His will is for you. If we love God, we must obey His commands and in doing so, applying His words to our lives that is obeying isnt it, it will begin to open so many doors. David says in Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the deisres of your heart." May God's word be your daily food that brings you spiritual nutrition. I hope that we all will continue to grow in His word by living it our each and everyday, so that we may be true followers of Christ and not be deceiving ourselves by thinking what we do now is good enough because remember, no matter what we do, we are still unworthy of His mercy and grace!

In Christ,

CL