Knowing is Only Half the Battle

James 4:17 - " Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

     When I was a young boy one of my favorite cartoons was G.I. Joe. I loved the action that took place in the cartoon, not to mention the good guys always won. The cartoon ended with a G.I. Joe talking about something; one that I remember was sunburning while tanning. The G.I. Joe would talk about the dangers of being out in the sun, then he would give the solution such as putting on sunscreen and turning over every so often. Then he would say "And knowing is half the battle!"

     There is a good lesson for us today in that simple statement. We can know something, but we must DO it to make change something. I know that for me to lose weight I must exercise. My problem is getting my feet on board with my mind! I know I should eat right, but I also have to get my determination on the same waive length as my mind or I will get food that is NOT good for me.I know that for me a good rule of thumb is not to eat a second helping, but my hands must stay by my side and not reach for more food. This reminds me of the verse "my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak."

     Our verse simply says that if you know to do good and don't do it you are in sin. Pretty harsh, but true. When I don't give God 100% I am in sin, so to know something and not do it is giving God less than He deserves. It is also disobedience to not do what we know we should. If I tell Corban to pick up his clothes, he knows he should, but if he doesn't he has disobeyed. If we know we are to do something good, such as be healthy and we don't do it are we then in sin? We have so many Christians who are saying we need revival and yet are not obeying God's simple command to take care of His temple. How can true revival happen if God's temple is not clean and holy, both spiritually and physically?