We live in the age of information. We can learn almost anything in just a few minutes. Need to smoke the perfect brisket...there's a YouTube video for that. Want to learn Greek...there's an app. Curious about a cataract surgery (I just had one)? ...type it in and hit GO. Never in history have people had access to so much information.
The church is no different. We listen to sermons at church and while driving. We have Bible apps on our phones. We read or listen to books, devotionals, blogs, and podcasts. If you have a theological question, you can probably find ten different answers before your cup of coffee gets cold.
None of that is bad. In fact, I thank God for it. I love learning. I love studying God's Word. I love those moments when a passage suddenly opens up and you see something you had never noticed before. But I do wonder if one of the greatest dangers facing Christians today is that we are filling our heads much faster than our hearts are being changed.
I think one of the strangest things about Christianity…and I see this in my own life… is that you can learn all the language of surrender without actually surrendering much of anything. You can learn the verses. You can learn the church vocabulary. You can know when to say "Amen," and you can recognize sound doctrine from bad doctrine. You can win a theological debate and still lose your patience with your spouse before lunch.
You don’t have to take my word for it…because my wife would could confirm it.
Knowledge is not the enemy. God commands us to love Him with all our minds. We should study deeply. We should pursue truth. Sound doctrine matters because truth matters. The problem comes when we begin confusing information with transformation.
Information is usually quick. Transformation is almost always slow. I think one of the greatest illustrations of this is the nation of Israel. God brought His people out of Egypt almost overnight. Through mighty acts of power, He rescued them from slavery, parted the Red Sea, and delivered them from Pharaoh. Their redemption happened quickly.
Getting Egypt out of Israel...that took a lot longer. For the next forty years God patiently dealt with their fears, their complaining, their unbelief, their pride, and their tendency to keep looking backward instead of forward. He had changed their address in a single night, but changing how they lived took much longer.
Isn't that our story too? The moment we trust Christ we are forgiven. We are justified. We are adopted into God's family. We belong to Him forever. Salvation happens in an instant because of the finished work of Christ. Sanctification is different.
God spends the rest of our lives making us into what He has already declared us to be. He patiently chips away at our pride. He teaches us humility. He exposes idols we never knew we had. He deepens our trust. He forms the character of Christ within us. It is slow work...but diamonds are not formed in a day. That truth should encourage us.
Sometimes we become discouraged because we still see so much that needs to change in us. Other times we become discouraged because someone else hasn't changed as quickly as we think they should. But God is never surprised by either one.
He knew exactly what He was getting when He saved us. He has never once looked at one of His children and said, "Well, I didn't see that coming."
He is patient with us because He is committed to finishing what He started. The God who justifies us in a moment is never frustrated by the lifelong work of sanctifying us. That is to make us patient with ourselves and others.
One of the most dangerous things that can happen to us is that we slowly forget how patient God has been with us. We forget what it was like when we didn't know better. We forget the years people invested in us. We forget how many times God forgave us, corrected us, picked us up, and kept moving us forward. When we forget where we came from, it becomes surprisingly easy to look down on people who are still standing there.
The measure of spiritual maturity is not simply how much of the Bible we know, as important as that is. It is how much God is using His Word, His Spirit, His people, and even the circumstances of life to make us think, love, speak, and live more like Jesus.
Are we becoming more humble? More patient? More compassionate? More teachable? More gracious? More willing to listen? More eager to repent? Mature people celebrate growth…no matter how small. Proud people mostly notice what’s wrong, with others. Do we celebrate even the smallest evidence of His grace in someone else?
Jesus was full of truth, yet sinners and needy people loved being around Him. That is worth thinking about. How do people experience us? Do they leave our conversations feeling loved and encouraged, even when we have spoken truth? Or do they simply leave knowing we were right?
If our knowledge is making us harsher, more defensive, more prideful, less patient, or harder to correct, perhaps we are accumulating information much faster than we are experiencing transformation. So, by all means...keep learning. Read your Bible. Listen to good sermons. Read great books. Study theology. Ask hard questions. Grow in your understanding of God, but don't stop there!
Ask the Holy Spirit to take everything you know and press it deep into your heart…something He usually does through prayer, time, suffering, obedience and daily nearness to Him. Ask Him to make truth become character. Ask Him to turn doctrine into delight...and information into transformation.
Perhaps our daily prayer should not simply be, "Lord, teach me something new." Perhaps it should also be, "Lord, soften me enough to be changed by what I already know. Help me remember where You brought me from. Make me patient with others because You have been endlessly patient with me. And by Your grace...make me more like Jesus."
After all, the goal of the Christian life is not simply to know more about Christ. It is to become more like Him, and that kind of transformation is never microwaved.