Yesterday morning we headed to church excited to begin another year with our family at BRCC. We cruised through New Palestine with the radio playing worship music (and maybe turned up). And then, there he was. Sitting ever so inconspicuously hoping to catch someone unaware; the local deputy sheriff. My husband quickly tapped the brakes (because we were approximately 10-12 mph over the speed limit). Those scenarios play out in a flash in your mind, right? “Officer, I was on my way to church, just so caught up in the Spirit.” Or, “I’m so sorry, I…………” (whatever comes out of your mouth). But regardless, we KNEW we were speeding; and we did it anyway. Maybe we don’t expect to get caught. Maybe we literally don’t give it a thought until we’re caught. Whatever the case may be, we knew the law and we were breaking it.
II Timothy 3:7 says, “……always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth”. This particular statement is Paul speaking to Timothy about some of the things he’s seeing in the local church. He was in prison (again) and appears fearful that Timothy might be wavering in his faith. Along with a multitude of other warnings, he’s basically saying, “Are you spending your time on things that appear good? Because you might be missing the most important thing”. His example was about some women who were maybe being led astray by false teachers.
This is what hit me and made me stop to dig a little deeper. We can go to church every Sunday. We might be part of a small group. We attend Bible studies as often as possible. This year is probably the 12th Beth Moore conference with 15,000 of our closest friends. We’ve purchased every recommended devotional on the market. We probably even put Bible verses on our social media platforms. Those are all things we might be DOING. But that isn’t what we’ve been called to. We’re first and foremost to BE with God
In order for us to “arrive at a knowledge of the truth”, we need to seek it out. The evidence of our “arrival” should be a changed life. So if I’m listening to Pastor Kris or Priscilla Shirer that’s fine. But in my time alone IN the Word and WITH the Word, is my heart hurt by my sin? Am I concerned about breaking His law? Because if I’m not, I’m just “learning” without “arriving”.
Now hear me out. I’m never pointing fingers. This is just as convicting of me as anyone else. But we’ve got to do something about it. We can’t keep driving over the speed limit and think no one’s looking. God KNOWS. When I’ve just read in I Thessalonians (again) about self-control but I turn around 30 minutes later and spew words that my grandma would never approve of, I am NOT being changed. The TRUTH should change me. All of the podcasts and all of the daily devotionals aren’t going to change me. Spending time WITH Him will change me. When I’m standing before Him I can’t say, “I didn’t know”.
We didn’t get pulled over yesterday. But if we had, we had no excuse to offer that would suffice. John 17:3 is a prayer that Jesus spoke just before his arrest. He said, “And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. The TRUTH is waiting. Find it!