With Christ as the head of the Church, it is the duty of the rest of the body—each one of us—to heed and obey His will. We must do this both individually and corporately. And if we are to grow and mature in our faith, we must exercise our faith muscles. That means learning to discern God’s will as we apply the Scripture to everyday life.

Let’s begin with the individual responsibility of the Christian.

Some assume that simply having the Word of God is enough—that the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest. But too often, the double-edged sword of Scripture glances off our hard hearts, drawing no blood. Reading Scripture alone does not guarantee heart transformation. We need to learn how to be victorious over sin by the power of Christ and stay victorious.

The heart of the problem is not exposure to teaching and reading. It’s not necessarily that we don’t hear enough preachers preaching or don’t spend enough time reading the Word, although that is an all-too-common problem. Rather, we can dive deep into Scripture and listen to the most profound scholars and teachers on God’s Word and yet remain untouched and unchanged. But if we read Scripture for knowledge only, we will only be puffed up—we will become arrogant (see 1 Corinthians 8:1).

Study the Bible, absolutely. Avail yourself of commentaries—I do it all the time. Read other books that give Biblically sound insight, without a doubt. Attend Bible classes, yes. But do it for the purpose of knowing God better, of knowing yourself better, of knowing others better. In doing so, you will become more like Christ—wiser, more discerning, more loving. You’ll love like Christ loves—not the sentimental “love” promoted by modern culture in which anything goes. Rather, the love that calls sin sin—even if it’s in your own life. If we try to know about God without taking a hard look at ourselves, if we simply want to accumulate Biblical knowledge, it will become nothing more than head knowledge—statistics and correct theology but dull and lifeless facts.

The spiritual life is a life of growth. You cannot stand still. Either you move forward, or you go backward. So we must allow the Bible to expose the areas of our lives that we have not given over to the King of kings.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the gift of Your Word. I want to seek You in it not just for knowledge but for a transformational relationship with You. Forgive me for simply reading rather than feasting on every word that comes from the mouth of God, which sustains my life. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). 

Learn more in Dr. Michael A. Youssef’s sermon series Defending a Lion: WATCH NOW | LISTEN NOW

Check out more from Dr. Michael Youssef, here!