Sunday I preached a message from 2 Tim. 2:15 entitled “Conquering Confusion”. During the message I gave my definition of backsliding–“When a child of God ceases to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ”. The next morning I noticed this article from Senior Living entitled “What it really means to grow in the Word”.
While studying in the Holy Land, a seminary professor met a man who claimed to have memorized the entire Old Testament in Hebrew. So the professor asked the man if he could give a demonstration. The man agreed, and the two met at the man’s home.
The professor took out his Hebrew Old Testament as the man asked, “Where shall we begin?”
“Psalm 1,” replied the professor, who was an avid student of the Psalms. And beginning with Psalm 1, the man began to recite from memory while the professor followed along. For two hours, the man continued without a single mistake as the professor sat stunned.
When the demonstration was over, the professor discovered something even more shocking about the man. He wasn’t a Jew nor a Christian, but an atheist. He knew the Scriptures better than most Christians ever will, and yet they had done nothing to change his life because he simply didn’t believe them.
Knowledge of God doesn’t always lead to maturity in the faith. In fact, there are countless people who know the Scriptures up and down yet simply don’t apply them to their lives. But the person who knows one verse and applies it is more spiritually mature than the one who knows many and applies none.
Yes, know the Bible. But more importantly, apply it to your life. That’s what it means to be mature in the Word of God!
Pray that God would help you take His Word and apply it to your daily life.
Think of a time when you knew the biblical response to a situation, but you did something different. What caused you to go your own way?
