Make some sawdust

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” (John 8:31-32)

There is nothing that frees an individual quite like God's truth. Truth is worthless if it is not embraced - trusted, put into practice, and worked out in one's life. We can 'know' all kinds of truth, but if we never use it, it is just knowledge. I 'know' a woodworking tool known as a router can be outfitted with a bit that can help me make dovetail joints. With the right jig, I can create wonder 'connections' for boxes, drawers, and shelving. I 'know' it can be done - I have never done it. I have knowledge, but I lack the practical application of what it is I know. When we treat God's truth as 'knowledge' and don't actually get to the point of practical application, we aren't going to understand the freedom God has for us within that truth.

Truth must be 'lived out'. How do we 'live out' truth? I would have to go out to the shop, install the bit into the router, set up the dovetail jig on the wood I desire to cut, and then turn on the router. All that was well and good, but if I never take the first 'bite' out of the wood with the spinning bit, I still haven't 'lived out' the truth I know about the capabilities of the tool. We have lots and lots of truth (tools) we have been given for our growth, edification, and spiritual well-being. We might even get to the point we have it all 'set-up and ready to go' in our lives, but somehow, we fall short of actually giving that truth 'bite' in our lives. We have to actually step out in faith sometimes and allow truth to do exactly what it was designed to do. Just as the spinning bit in the router is designed to specifically remove the wood as it is pressed against it, God's truth will begin to remove what doesn't belong and create something uniquely 'fitting' within our lives.

Truth is meant to be experienced - not just 'understood' or 'known'. In other words, it has to have application. I am beginning a woodworking class at our local college - not because I am looking for another career, but because I want to take what I 'know' about my tools and begin to 'experience' how useful they can be in my hobby shop. I had to apply to the college for enrollment, find an open class, enroll in the class I desired to take, get all the necessary supplies I will need, and then actually attend the class. All that is well and good, but if I just observe the class and never get my hands on the wood and tools, I am just an 'auditor' of the class. Once I begin to make my own sawdust, I am 'experiencing' the class. Some of us need to begin to make a little 'spiritual sawdust' in God's workshop - taking what we know and seeing it transformed into experience. Just sayin!