Learning it AND living it …

It used to be one way you could spot a “learned man” was by the obvious: a study overflowing with books.

But that was then …

Today, with the onslaught of e-book readers, it could be possible the future private libraries of “learned men” will be the ultra-thin electronic devices that are becoming increasingly popular. Instead of shelves loaded with books, the physical evidence of study will be stored out of sight electronically.

In that case, the way of spotting a “learned man” will be by his life.

But that’s the way it was always supposed to be.

It is of no benefit for any person to have a library consisting of thousands of volumes if there isn’t any growing, developing, maturing, and impacting the life of the student. The purpose of learning isn’t to build the theoretical capacities of a person, but the practical maturing as lived out in the exercise of knowledge, that leads to understanding, and is finally expressed in its highest form: wisdom.

God’s design is that we grow up, that we mature, and that maturity be shown by how we live out our lives. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way in Ephesians 4:13-15:

“This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”

As we look to the start of a new year, it’s a fitting time to assess how we’re doing in our spiritual growth. Are we “… growing in every way more and more like Christ”? What do we need to do in the New Year to mature as children of God? There’s still a few days left in 2018 to put together a personal plan for how you can dig deeper, draw closer, and live out a more mature likeness of Christ in 2019.

Scotty