My daughters introduced me to the teachings of Francis Chan when they were teenagers after they heard him speak at a youth conference. He puts things very plainly and his theology is solid. As I was listening to one of his podcasts, he said (and I’m paraphrasing)…
When I tell my daughter to clean her room I don’t expect her to come back to me a few hours later and say “Dad, I memorized what you said. I even learned it in Greek!” What she’s done is pretty worthless. Her room is still not clean.
Or imagine a kid sitting in a recliner who wants to play a video game. He turns it on and memorizes all the scenery, but never picks up the controller. How is what he’s doing accomplishing anything?
Jesus told us to go feed the poor. If we memorize His words but we don’t go feed the poor, then the poor are still hungry and what we’ve done is worthless.“
When I was growing up, we went to a lot of different churches. Some encouraged us to memorize scripture, to “hide it in our hearts”, but none of them showed us how to apply any of it. So, in essence, they didn’t really teach us anything valuable. Yes, it’s vitally important to know God’s Word, but if all we do is learn it, and we don’t apply it, we’ve accomplished very little.
Scripture tells us that Jesus will say to some of us, “Why do you call me Lord? Go away from Me, I never knew you.” I believe He’s talking to all of us who like to show the world how much we know His Word, but we keep our time, talents and riches to ourselves. God forgive us.
When God called me into ministry, I was convinced that I was hearing Him wrong. I was convinced that He couldn’t use someone who had a past like mine. I was someone who lived a very empty life, with God’s Word “hidden in my heart” so deeply that I never let anyone see it. I didn’t know how to live it. But thankfully, He sent people into my life who showed me what to do. Not just to read it and memorize it, but to live it. And as an adult, He called me to a church that took ministering to the poor very seriously, and I started to learn how to live my faith. I learned that it’s not about a religious veneer that made me look righteous, it’s about being willing to move forward, doing His work and living His Word.
God is working on my heart right now in ways I’ve never experienced before. I thought this blog was only to show you how He can take the broken and restore us to Him. But as I write, my heart is breaking for those who need more.
James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
If I write the words, but I don’t do anything to act on them, I’m no better than the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
In Mark 3:1-6 “Jesus went into the synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them (Pharisees) were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with a shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’
Then Jesus asked them ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored.”
Jesus knew that the will of His Father is to do good, to love those in need and to act on that love by providing what they need. My prayer today is that God will lead us to show His love to someone who needs it. Maybe that means we smile at someone who’s having a bad day, or give to a charity that meets the needs of the homeless, or take a pack of diapers to that single mom in our neighborhood. Whatever that looks like, I pray that we’ll be moved to compassion to love others, not just with our words, but with our actions.
Blessings,
Mikki
mchristopherministries.com 