Shout out all the people of the world who aren’t satisfied with pat answers to their burning questions. I admire those who keep digging deeper and deeper until they’ve uncovered more answers than the rest of us care to know. Like why we have to go to the bathroom. Most of us are satisfied to know that our bodies expel excess fluids we don’t need. Nephrologists, however, know precisely how each unit within the kidney makes that happen. The ones who know how stuff works at the base level are the ones who know how to fix, heal, and create. We are grateful for them.
I would argue though that being a deep diver is meaningless if that knowledge is not put into practice or shared in some way. Does it really matter if you know exactly how a combustion engine works if you can’t use that information to repair your vehicle?
Sometimes Christ followers are especially good at learning but not putting into practice what we know. We will commit to daily Bible reading plans, whether or not we actually stick to them. We attend Bible study upon Bible study. Even doing homework assignments that encourage us to dive deeper into God’s word. But when someone needs our help or we are asked to get our hands dirty helping the needy, there’s almost always a shortage of willing servants. We want to know stuff and feel like that makes us closer to God, but we don’t always want to do what He tells us to.
Philippians 4:9 tell us to put into practice what we have learned. (I’m paraphrasing Paul’s exact words.) Matthew 7:24 also tells us that “everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock” as opposed to one who hears but does not put the words into practice. They are like the foolish man building in shifting sands where the house will fall when the rains come.
Studying scripture is a very good thing. It’s how we get in tune with God. But if your faith walk ends at the reading and before the doing, you’re missing the best part. We get to participate in God’s healing, fixing, and creating when we move beyond the learning and start practicing what we know.