September 16, 2012 Learn It. Do It.

Learn It, Do It 2 Thess 1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. CHURCH life is a picture of your physical life. Consider how you were born, you grew up, you learned things along the way, and you have come to a particular point of physical size, strength, and knowledge. Some of these attributes have developed because you’ve lived a certain kind of life and learned particular things in school and self study. You are essentially a product of your environment, but you certainly have plenty of opportunity to add to your life or subtract from it by the way you exercise, eat, and learn. Paul is celebrating a growing faith and love in the church in Thessalonica. How do faith and love grow in a church? They do so in the same way you grow in knowledge and your life experiences. When you learn things, you put them to the test to see if they are true. As you understand the truth, you have faith that 2+2=4. As a Christian you can learn the truth of God’s Word. Then you can go and “test” it to see if it works in your life. When you do, you will find God’s Word is true, and your faith and love in him will grow. One of the big questions you get as a Christian is, “How do you know the Bible is true?” One of the best ways you can answer that is to say, “When I live the way it teaches me to live, life works. When I try to live on my own ideas, life doesn’t work.” God birthed the church long ago. He births you as a Christian. Now learn the truth and do the truth. Your faith and love, too, will grow. It’s True! “Doing” the Bible is the best way to grow into God.