During yesterday morning’s worship service we looked at Paul’s prayer for the church in Colossians 1. One important truth that sticks with me this morning is that spiritual knowledge should lead to righteous living. Paul prayed that the believers at Colosse would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Col.1:9). And he prayed that, because he knew that when that happens, the result should be that the believer walks in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col. 1:10).
We study God’s Word not merely to gain wisdom–we do so to be filled with God’s wisdom that will lead to obedience–good works–and in turn that leads to an increased desire for more of the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Spiritual knowledge should lead to service and service for God’s glory should spur us on to more knowledge–and the cycle should continue–one promotes the other. We can’t be all knowledge with no good works, and we can’t be all good works with no knowledge. And remember, that we do good works, we serve, because Christ saved us. We don’t serve for salvation–we serve because of salvation.