Posts Tagged: doing and knowing

“First things First: the Priority of Doing”

On October 29, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” (John 7:17, English Standard Version)

Jesus was in the midst of controversy when he spoke these words.  Some people were saying that Jesus was a good man.  Others thought him a deceiver.  Shortly after Jesus spoke these words, the crowd accused him of having a demon.

In other words, it was a fairly typical time in Jesus’ life.  He seemed (and still seems) to generate controversy, wherever he went.

Here, Jesus says something very simple: You only know the truth when you act.

Too often, we sit around waiting.  We are waiting for Truth, for Love, for Something.  And all too often, no mighty wave of Truth crashes over us.  No Love taps us on the shoulder, spins us around, and gives us a kiss.  Something does happen, but it isn’t the something we had hoped for.

Perhaps we should do something.  Doing often comes first.  Knowing is often the caboose of the train, not its engine.

By the by, this is not just true in spiritual matters.  If you want to learn anything from cooking to plumbing, from learning to sew to figuring out how to rewire a light switch, you have to do something.

Don’t get me wrong!  Knowing is important.  But far too often, we think we have to know everything before we do anything.  Also, we have a tendency to think that knowing always precedes doing.  Sometimes, yes, but not always.

A commentator on John 7:17 says it pretty well:

“If they choose to do God’s will, Jesus said, they will find out his teaching comes from God. This enunciates a very important fact: recognizing the truth of Jesus’ teaching is not dependent upon intellectual ability or formal learning, nor is it a reward for the noble search for truth. It depends, rather, upon a person’s willingness to do the will of God. The impediments to knowing the truth about God are more likely to be moral (lack of readiness to do God’s will) than anything else.”  (Colin G. Kruse, The Gospel according to John: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, p. 184)

Usually, we already know something we need to do.  We would probably become a lot smarter if we would just do that.

Excuse me, but I need to finish this post.  I’ve got some things that I know I need to do to prepare for the class I’m teaching this afternoon!

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