Hear. Know. Do.

Hello Friends,

There is a difference between hearing truth, knowing truth, and living truth.

James 1:22 says: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Notice that word, “deceiving”? James doesn’t say uninformed. He says deceived.

It is possible to hear so much truth, so often, that we begin to mistake familiarity for obedience. We think because we know it, we’re living it. But knowing is not the same thing as doing.

About a month ago, the front brakes on my car began to squeak. I hear the problem every single time I drive. I would get in my car and listen to my brakes squeal all the way home. To literally hear it, know what the problem is, and delay doing anything about it.

But here's the deal: I think this is what we do spiritually... We hear the conviction. We know what God is nudging us toward. But we delay obedience.

As humans, we have a tendency to tune things out when we think we already know what's being said. Even when that thing is exactly what we need to be doing! We resist action and excuse our way into staying the same.

We as believers need to hear, know, and do. Not one without the other. In fact, they are nothing without each other, working in unison.

Biblical rest and sabath. It's one of those things. We hear about it a lot. We are given tools, schedules, and recommendations to help us. We know it's what is best for us, because of the outline given to us in scripture, but also because we feel the effects of living without it. We feel the anxiety creep in, we feel our emotions unbalanced, and our spiritual life begins to decline.

We hear the solution, we know the problem, yet we struggle to step into action. I have noticed this in my life, and this is what I’m doing about it:

I am going to slow down. I am going to be adamant to have less of me and more of Jesus in my day.

I am going to slow down so that when God tells me it's time to speed up, I'm actually ready to speed up. The problem often is not that I am fighting the wrong battles, but instead that I'm going into battles with a lack of His presence. I'm going in tired.

Rest in Him, then go with Him.

Isaac Fehlen

Youth Pastor