Don't Puff Up!

From time to time I hear of people equating learning more about the Bible and about God with growing or “going deeper”. The Bible says “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Picture this: you have a garage where you keep your cars, tools, lawn equipment, etc. You drive around in your cars, you get your tools out and build/repair things, and you get the lawn equipment out and use it too. Your garage is useful and pretty valuable to you. Now let’s say you simply leave everything in the garage and never, or even just rarely, take the stuff out and use it. Your garage is now not very valuable to you. It stores and protects your cars, tools, and equipment that you never use. Your use of the garage determines how valuable it is to you.

You can memorize entire books of the Bible and learn all the background info you want, but unless you use that information for more than just your pride or entertainment, it is useless. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 lays it out for us:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for (get ready for 4 verbs in a row here) teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Bible is to be done-- to be lived and not just learned.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. James 1:22

Let’s be honest, when it comes to the Bible, we all know a lot more than we live. Don’t get me wrong, I think we need to study the Bible on a daily basis. However, our studies should be aimed at answering the “HOW”s not just the “WHAT”s. Our discussions should be centered around figuring out how to live what we’re learning. As we live out what we have already learned, God gives us more insight into His word; He gives us a bigger garage as we use it properly. If we want to go deeper and gain more of an understanding of the Bible, of who God is, and of who we are in Him, we have to first honor God with what we have already learned. The principle of Luke 16:10 and Matthew 25:29 apply not only to how we use our material possessions but also to how we use the truths of God that have been revealed to us. The Bible is more than just interesting words on paper, it is the living Word of God (Hebrews 4:12), and we’ve been given the Holy Spirit to reveal the greater truths of the Bible to us (John14:17, 26).

In Hebrews 12:12-14, Paul calls a group of people in the Bible “infants” because they are still on spiritual milk and haven’t moved on to meat. He tells them that even though they have been believers “long enough to be teaching others,” he still has to “teach them again the basic things about God’s word.” He goes on to say that, “Solid food is for those who are mature…” and that you become mature “through training”, through putting to use what you’ve learned. The milk is simply reading the Bible and understanding it at face value while the meat is a deeper understanding revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we put action to our current understanding. The Bible was meant to be lived, so no real understanding of it can come without putting it in practice in our daily lives. Depth comes through action. Closeness with God comes through partnering with Him in pursuit of others. Jesus called His disciples to be “fishers of men” and sent them out to do the word of God. They were to practice what He taught them by winning new believers, baptizing them, and making them disciples who win new believers. God is actively knocking on the doors of peoples’ lives who don’t know Him (Revelation 3:20). If you are studying your Bible, coming to church, having your quiet times but not helping others find God and take their next steps with Him, then Paul would call you an infant.

God is working to win unbelievers to Himself. If you aren’t working with Him to do the same, then you are limiting how deep you can go and how close you can get to Him because He is busy doing something else. Learn more. Do more. That is depth. Grow beyond being an infant to becoming a mature Christ-follower. Make the transition from a mere consumer to a producer of eternal significance.

The Better Win

As a child, I learned to win, or at least to aim for winning. As an adult, I’ve learned that sometimes when I win, it’s a loss. I learned this lesson first in my marriage. April and I would have some sort of disagreement and I would win the argument but instead of getting a trophy, I got a cold shoulder or a wounded wife. I had to learn that the better win was when my marriage won, not when I won. This is true in so many areas of life. Sometimes, when I am challenging someone to step up with God and they aren’t sure about it, I can use the Bible and some common sense to win the debate, but rarely is the other person better because of it. I have never debated someone into taking their next step with God and seen lasting fruit from it. The better win would be for me to win the person, not the conversation. There have been times when I have had to choose between a win for me and a win for my church. There have been times where my taking a hit was good for the church and I had to choose the better win. If I’m focused on me, on my comfort, on my career, on my recognition, then the impact I will make with my life is drastically limited. I will never make as much of an impact as my marriage can, as my friendships can, as the church can. I have to retrain my brain to not think about how I can win, but how my relationships and my church can win. Where have you had to choose between a personal win and the better win?

Ouch! Feedback Helps.

The older I get, the more I realize that there are things in this world that I am good at and things that I have no business ever trying again. We all have strengths and weaknesses and if you are like me, you wish you had less weaknesses and stronger strengths. I am constantly trying to grow in my strengths. The idea of being a better leader, strategist, teacher, connector, etc. is very exciting to me. The part that trips me up, though, is how to get better. It’s not just more practice, or more experience. It’s more than reading books and studying others to learn new tactics.

I’ve found that the key is in exposure.

I have to have some people in my life that will shoot straight with me. I need the honest truth about where and how I need to improve. I like to get a pat on the back and to be told that I’m doing great. We all need encouragement and affirmation. However, I’m not going to grow through affirmation-- I’m going to grow through people that aren’t impressed with me, that don’t think I’ve hung the moon. People who will give me open and honest feedback. Neal, you come across too rough, you need to say it different next time. Neal, when you do this, regardless of your intentions, it is perceived this way. Neal, you’ve got to slow down. Neal, you lost sight of the big picture on this one.

There are things in my life, in my strengths and personality that I am blind to. When someone else, coming from a friendship of mutual respect, speaks candidly and honestly with me, I can learn. It stings a little, but it’s when they expose my blind spots that I can truly grow.