ScottFentonBlog

Read a quote recently that just will not leave me alone….I am not sure if it is original with Mark Batterson, but he said this in his book Primal, “most of us are educated well beyond our level of obedience.” We are in the middle of a teaching series at The Rock Church on the Book of James which of course deals with the tension of our how our faith and deeds work together in our lives. It is easy, I believe in church culture to simply move from one good idea to another, one deep thought to another, or one ‘great service’ to another all in our quest to learn more, do more, say more……it seems as if we are often times just trying to reinvent the wheel! I know that I am guilty of this, in my passion to know more about God, it seems that I find myself doing less for God. Please don’t hear me say that we should not be students of God’s word, or that we should neglect good expository Bible teaching in our churches. How often as a preacher I have heard this statement from good Christian people,” I am just not being fed at my church”. My response is often at first defensive because I am human, but it also makes me think, how much ‘feeding’ do we need as Christians? I am not mad at Christ followers, I am one! But when I look at my own faith journey I am struck by the quote above, what if we were consumed as Christians with obedience and action as it relates to the teaching we have already received? The spiritual leaders of Christ’s day where apparently consumed with knowledge and the detail of the law, they constantly would push Jesus to quantify what loving God was all about. What the pharisees wanted was data, details, knowledge, rules, grand philosophies, simply more for them to take pride in! But Jesus only put things into powerful and applicable words, and with only the way Jesus could, said ‘ Love God and Love people”. You know that alone should keep us pretty busy as it relates to obedience…..what would our churches look like if we obeyed the great commandment? I am reminded of something we as parents say to our children all the time at the dinner table when they want seconds, “Eat what is on your plate first, then you can have more” just a thought, but what if we ate what was already on our plates, before we started asking to be “fed” more.? I am right there with you, as I wrestle with what I am asking God for, perhaps He is just waiting for me to finish whats on my plate!

• On the Journey with you…