My son and his friend climbed up into the treehouse part of his old swing set the other day. They immediately came back down to tell me how dirty it was in there and that it was covered in leaves. Then they wanted to know if they could clean it out. A small broom was useful in clearing out the leaves and paper towels helped them wipe everything down. Then the friend came down to tell me that she was able to put her hand through one of the boards. I told my son to get out as I walked over to it. Sure enough, several boards had rotted through where the leaves had piled up. Until I can replace the boards, the treehouse is off limits.
As I laid back down in my hammock, jokingly I thought, “But I have buckets of water seal in the garage. How could it have rotted through?” That thought was met with another one that said, “It doesn’t matter how much water seal you have if you never apply it!” My mind then went to James 1:22 that tells us to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only. Many of us have read the Bible and even memorized it. We’ve stored it in our minds, but if we don’t apply it into our lives, things can still fall apart and rot through. It’s not enough to know God’s Word. We must do something with it.
One of my favorite verses is Joshua 1:8 because it gives God’s secret to success in life. It says, “Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (GNT). We can read it, hear it and study it, but if we don’t obey and apply it, we miss out on the blessings it offers. If we want to guard against rot in our heart and find success in this life and the next, we must apply God’s principles to our lives and live it out. Application is the key to unlocking all that God has for you. Put it to the test and watch Him move in your life.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 