BIBLE,
APPLICATION OF
MY WIFE at various times over the years wanted to take classes at Dallas Seminary. She didn’t want to take the class in the traditional way. She wanted to audit the class. You see, when you audit the class, you can go and sit and get the information but there are no outside requirements. You don’t have to study. You don’t have to take any tests. You get the information but you don’t have the burden of the class.
Many Christians come to church on Sunday mornings and audit the sermon. They go to class, have textbook in hand, sit in their regular seat, and listen to the professor. But all they want to do is audit the class. They don’t want to be expected to do any homework. They don’t want to pass any tests that God sends their way to check their understanding. These Christians will pay the money to take the class but they don’t want to have to meet any requirements. They also don’t expect to receive a degree and diploma from the school.
As long as my wife audits her seminary class, she will have no credit on her transcript. There will be no graduation ceremony and nobody will ever hand her a degree. As long as you audit your Christian life, there will be no passing grades, there will be no divine recognition, and there will be no experience of your calling.22
[Church; Commitment]
1 Sam. 15:22; James 1:23–24; 1 Cor. 9:23–25
A COUPLE decided that they should do something together to strengthen their marriage. They decided to go duck hunting together. They’d heard of other people going duck hunting with dogs, so they figured they needed to buy a good hunting dog and buy the dog they did. They got all of their equipment and their dog and took off to go duck hunting for the day. They tried getting some ducks, but they came to the end of the day and hadn’t gotten one. The husband looked at the wife and said, “Honey, we’ve got to be doing something wrong here. We haven’t caught a duck yet.”
The wife said, “Well, maybe, if we throw the dog up a little higher, he can catch a duck this time.”
That’s what a lot of us are doing. We’re trying to get a dog to do what a gun was meant to do. We’re trying to accomplish things in our lives with tools that don’t work or don’t make sense. A dog is not the right weapon to get ducks. You need firepower to bring a duck down.
A lot of us have “hound dogs” trying to fix our marriage. We’re on the phone with “hound dog” girlfriends or guy friends. All they’re doing is barking us up into more mess. We’re doing everything but using firepower from heaven. It’s not that we’re not trying. The question is, what are we trying.
The Word of Christ must dwell in us richly. It has to be the basis of our decisions.23
[Marriage; Scripture]
Josh. 1:8; Col. 3:16; 1 Peter 2:1–3