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"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
(James 1:22)
In addition to serving as the missions director at Great Hills Baptist Church, I'm also an author of books for teenagers, with seven published novels. This week, I'll be reflecting on lessons God has taught me on my journey, which has been long but has grown my faith in so many ways. If you enjoy reading novels, hopefully you'll appreciate a peek into the publishing world as well!
Although I've wanted to be an author since I was a child, I didn't start writing with the goal of publishing a book until a few years after I graduated from college. Being an over-preparer, I didn't simply start writing; first, I spent a year reading books about how to write a novel. I learned a lot about plot structure, characters, themes, and more. But I didn't have any words on the page.
Finally, in one of the few times I've heard God speak extremely clearly to me, I felt Him telling me to just write. To stop thinking about it and actually do it. I quickly discovered that as helpful as those books had been, I learned about writing a novel much better once I put the knowledge into practice myself.
In many ways, this resembles our faith. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Another translation says we should be "doers of the word, not hearers only." A verse I've had memorized since high school, in the 1984 NIV, is Philemon 6: "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."
These verses point to a key truth in our Christian walks. Knowledge about God and the Bible is great. Reading books, listening to sermons, and attending Bible studies benefit us. But until we become active participants, putting into practice what we've learned, we aren't being fully obedient, we don't experience all God has for us, and we don't grow in our faith. Dave Browning says in Deliberate Simplicity that "many Christians are educated beyond their obedience."
I wasn't truly a writer until I started writing. Thinking about it and studying it weren't enough. And I learned so much more once I became a doer.
Is there an area of your life where God is telling you to stop thinking, stop studying, stop preparing, and just go put into practice the things you've learned? This is true obedience and how you will grow the most.
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