But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it (not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work), this man shall be blessed in what he does.
James 1:22-25
I have been thinking lately about the subtle difference between knowledge and belief. And I do not have in mind just those who know the gospel but do not believe it for themselves. I am mainly thinking about us who already know Christ. We know many things, especially if we have been around the church for long enough. We regularly read the Bible, study it, and hear others who have read and studied it talk about what it says. If someone were to mention such-and-such a teaching from the Bible, we would nod our heads and say, “Yes, I believe that.” But is that true? Might it be that we know that such-and-such is what Christians believe is taught in the Bible, but we do not really believe it? My main point is that knowledge of something need produce no effect on the knower – but true belief of or in something must. I will explain what I mean.
All of us are motivated by what we really believe, whatever that happens to be. The words, actions, and decisions of our daily lives all spring out of what we are really convinced of in our hearts. We are all believing something, and our lives prove it for all to see – what is it that we believe? Is it that which the Bible teaches us, or something else?
Let me give some examples. Do we really believe that Jesus meant it when He said “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20)? Now, Jesus Himself is not walking in a human body right beside us twenty-four hours a day; but He did promise that His Holy Spirit would live inside all believers during their earthly lives. If we really believed that the Lord Himself was with us in Spirit at all times, do you suppose that would have any effect on what we did, or where we went, or what we said, or what we watched, or what we read, or what we listened to, or what we thought? Of course it would; if we regarded this as true, it would have to affect the way we live. We would live as if we knew that God was watching us at all times.
Do we really believe that Jesus was serious when He said, “Therefore be ready – for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect Him” (Matthew 24:44)? This is similar to the previous point. None of us knows when Jesus is returning to earth, but He said Himself that He is, and that it would be unexpected. Are we living our lives in such a way that we would be pleasing to Him if He were to appear visibly in the sky right now? Or would we be ashamed to face Him because of the things we are involved in? If we really believe Jesus is coming back, as we say we do, it should affect our lives.
What about this statement from John 3:36 – “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that does not believe on the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God remains on him.” How would our lives show it if we really believed that all – each and every one – of the people we see and come in contact with every single day will not go to heaven when they die, but be eternally separated from God, unless they place their faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ? If we believed that, it would stand to reason that we would be more active in sharing the gospel. Not all of us can or will be street preachers or full-time evangelists or missionaries, but we certainly would not be silent if this is what we really believed.
Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed to man once to die, but after this the judgment.” None of us likes to think about dying, and it would not really be God’s will for us to be morbidly preoccupied with the subject. However, it would not be hard, judging from the way we often live, to think that we really believe we are going to live forever. We waste our time on so many worthless things, as if minutes were in endless supply. But if we believed, as this verse tells us to believe, that there will be an end to our earthly days, we would live more often than not as if those fleeting days were more precious to us – and we would live as if we would have to give an account of how we spent them.
The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you – for you are not under law but under grace.” Have we ever stopped struggling against something in our lives that we know we should not do, thinking that we will never be able to defeat it? If so, it may be that we don’t believe this verse. Paul is not saying that we will achieve perfection in this life. But he is saying that whatever the sin is that so easily hinders us from walking more fully with the Lord, it can be defeated. It doesn’t have to have the mastery over us. God can and will give us the grace and strength to stop. But do we really believe this, as well as many other truths, in our hearts?
These five examples are just scratching the surface, for there are hundreds if not thousands more of them within the pages of the Bible. But now let us think about other things that we could believe, things not based on the Bible but on other voices and sources we hear every day – things that will, if we believe them, powerfully affect our daily actions. What about this statement – “If I had more things and more money I would be happier.” If we really believed that, we would live as if earning money and possessing things were the most important realities of life. We would work many long hours, sacrificing family time, and we would be constantly consumed with having the latest and greatest car or house or boat or clothes or video games or computers or appliances (in short, all the stuff that the commercials and the advertisements tell us we “need”). And we all know that many people in our society believe that statement, because this is how they live.
Other voices tell us that “Such-and-such really isn’t that bad; why, it’s fun and everybody is doing it – and besides, you only live once!” But say that “such-and-such” is an activity that the Bible clearly says is wrong. If we believed the Bible, we would not do it; if we believed the other voices, we would. What we truly believe in our hearts will determine how we behave.
Many voices in our culture today tell us, “There is no such thing as absolute truth; it may be true for me or true for you, but nothing is true for everybody!” If we believed those voices, we would not be very willing to take a stand for the truth that the Bible teaches. We wouldn’t want to offend, and besides, it’s only true for us anyway. However, if we believe that what the Bible says is God’s truth and applies to everyone, we would not be afraid to share it with others, even if to some the truth is offensive.
Again, these examples only scratch the surface. The major point is that we act out of some belief – what belief is it? This is a hard subject. None of us, while we still live in our corrupt flesh, will ever be able to consistently and perfectly live out everything that is taught in the Bible. It would be acting out of a false belief if we tried to do it all in our own strength – then we would be doomed to failure because our flesh is weak and we have an enemy, Satan, who would have us believe and act on anything at all as long as it is not God’s truth. If we are to do any of these things, it must be through the grace and strength that God Himself lends us daily.
Each one of us, more than any other human being, is or should be an expert in the subject of our own selves. Only we know what we as individuals do and think twenty-four hours a day. So let’s take a look at our daily lives. What do our actions and words and thoughts say about what we really believe? They won’t lie, because we always think and act and speak out of our true beliefs. The answer may surprise us. I know in my case, the answer is mixed. In some areas I try to walk according to what I learn from the Bible. But in too many other areas I am living in direct contrast to those teachings, despite the fact that I say, less than honestly, that I believe those teachings. It turns out that I may know them, but I don’t really believe them. Consider again the verse at the beginning of this article. Those who only hear the Word, but never do it, deceive themselves. But those who take the Word to heart and do what it says will be blessed in whatever they do.
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