What is the value of knowledge if not combined with faith?

August 15, 2005

Yesterday, my pastor preached from Hebrew 4. At one point, he talked about needing to act when we hear God’s voice and he went to verse 2 of Hebrews 4:

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

I thought about something I had seen last week on TV. I watched the end of a program that was a tribute to Peter Jennings. One of the things that they highlighted was his curiosity about the historical Jesus. He had suggested having a religious editor several years ago and done several specials centering about Jesus. It seemed that Peter Jennings had a lot of knowledge about Jesus, but sadly it does not seem that he ever combined his knowledge with faith. I came to that conclusion based on a comment that one of his friends made. It is sad to think that Peter was close but it really means nothing apart from faith.

I think this really struck me now because of my experiences in Hungary this summer. It was so good to be back in a situation where I observed students hearing the gospel and then challenged to make a decision on what they were going to do with Jesus. There were many who decided to act on what they heard and asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Others were still in the process and then there were others that just rejected the offer.

As I thought about it this summer, the most important question any human being must answer is “Who is Jesus?” and “What am I going to do in response to Him?”