As a kid, once school started, waking up on Saturday mornings meant two things: Mom was making breakfast for everyone, and I watched Saturday morning cartoons with my dad. The Saturday morning lineup was limited during my childhood and teenage years. But my fond memories of the smell of bacon and eggs frying in the kitchen, and Saturday morning cartoons with my dad, before chores had to be done, are priceless.
As I got older one cartoon combined action, martial arts, American values, and the military all into one: GI Joe! What used to be an action figure came to life on the small screen! Each episode taught an important lesson: don’t do what a stranger says, don’t lie, don’t steal, etc. And, at the end of the episode, a GI Joe character would come on the screen and say, “and now you know, and knowing is half the battle!”.
Only half the battle
That phrase has stuck with me ever since. Since “knowing is half the battle”, I believe “doing” is the other half. There is a difference between knowing and doing. Lucifer rebelled against God the Father while in His presence, clearly knowing Him. Therefore, Lucifer’s knowledge profits him nothing, nor stops his efforts to drag our souls down to everlasting hell. In Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul warns against being “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. So, is knowledge therefore of no worth? That’s silly but knowing is only HALF THE BATTLE!
“There has never been a time in the history of the world when knowledge of our Savior is more personally vital and relevant to every human soul.
The pure doctrine of Christ is powerful. It changes the lives of everyone who understands it and seeks to implement it in his or her life. The doctrine of Christ helps us find and stay on the covenant path. Staying on that narrow but well-defined path will ultimately qualify us to receive all that God has. Nothing could be worth more than all our Father has!” President Russell M. Nelson, October 2021 “Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine, Pure Revelation”
Doers of the word
“In James 1:22 he counsels: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”. In Colossians 3:23-24 it says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men … for ye serve the Lord Christ.” And Paul taught the Romans in chapter 2 verse 13: “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
So, for today, my friends, time to turn off the morning cartoons and do the chores. Pray, study the scriptures, and go and be doers of the word. And may God bless you in all you do on this day!
