Does your heart beat with the heart of God? Do you spend your valuable time on things that will impact the kingdom or on things that will ultimately not matter?
Everything we are, everything we do, and everything we say communicates to the world around us what we believe and think. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul refers to a way of doing things the I would like to expand on. He writes:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Phillipians 1:9-11, NIV)
As we explore some of the key phrases in this verse, I will be referring to a concept that a couple of friends and I came up with a few years ago. Now I don’t know if this is original material or if we unknowingly stole this concept from someone, but the idea is summed up in three words, Know-Be-Do.
The Know-Be-Do idea was actually birthed out of an ongoing discussion we were having at the the time about our mission in life. The more we began to dwell on and develop this idea, the more we saw it line up with some key phrases in this verse. It also brought up some interesting questions about the ideas of knowledge, wisdom, and our actions.
Know – the knowledge we gain, what we know in our minds
“that your love may abound more and more in knowledge”
“Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study.” (American Heritage Dictionary)
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)
The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly. (Proverbs 15:14)
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out. (Proverbs 18:15)
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit…All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Corinthians 12:7-8, 11)
Be – What we believe in our hearts
“and depth of insight”
I want you to think of heart in the same way that the nation of Israel did back then. For them, the heart represents what you believe in the very core being of who you are. Deep down in your soul, you know these certain things are true.
What is it, that if all else was stripped away, you would still hold on to and believe in? These are the core values and truths that you hold on to. It is these things that have a huge influence on every area of your life and priorities.
Do – What we say or how we act as an outflow of what we know and believe
“so that you may be able to discern what is best“
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:14-18)
In my mind, it is the combination of these three concepts that helps me understand what it means to have wisdom.
The dictionary defines wisdom as “the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight.” (wisdom. Dictionary.com. WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University)
In other words, it is the concept of combining all that we know and all that we believe to skillfully live our lives from day to day.
When you strive to live a wise Christ-like life, you need to develop a deep knowledge of who Jesus is and what He teaches, a deeply held belief that Jesus is truth, and actively live a life that reflects what you know and believe. When you do this, you will be a light to the dark, confused world around you.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)
