Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to words of knowledge.

To me the Japanese is stronger than the NIV here, saying “exercise your will,” rather that “apply your heart.” It may be a small difference, but it caught my attention. The point is, we are to be intentional in our discipleship, active in our obedience. I keep coming back to the fact that human free will has got to be one of the most valuable things in the universe, because it was worth the life of the Son of God. Without free will, God could very easily have made us all obedient and there would have been no sin. However, God didn’t want robots, He wanted children, and He obviously decided it was worth the price. When we have such a valuable commodity, it makes sense that we should use it to good purpose, applying it to grow more like Christ. In line with that, we always need to be ready to learn more about God. I have run into numbers of people who already know as much as they want to know about God. With such people, what they think they know is generally wrong! A genuine disciple will have assurance of what they do know, but will always be ready to learn more of God. That’s obviously a lifetime activity, because God is infinite, and in these bodies we can’t take all of that in.

I got quite a head start in the knowledge area, reading through the whole Bible for the first time at the age of 10, but that in no way means that I know all I want to of God. I need to apply my will to receive the training and instruction He provides, keeping my ears tuned to hear all He wants to say to me. By nature I like knowing things, and I absorb immense quantities of facts, but that’s not the same thing, or nearly as important, as knowing God. I need to keep pressing into Him, just as I have said in the past couple of sermons, so that I may be all that He intends me to be, for His glory.

Father, thank You for how You keep opening Your Word to me. Thank You for this fresh insight, courtesy of the Japanese translation. Help me indeed exercise my will in submission and obedience to You, not grudgingly but with great joy, so that Your will may be done in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!