Ran across this studying this morning...
Proverbs 19:2 says, "Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."
Whether we are acting without thinking or acting without all the information, when we launch out without real knowledge we get ourselves in a world of trouble. Impulsiveness is a train that does not look good on the Christian.
This is especially true in our walk with God. After expressing heartbreak over the lost state of many people around him, Paul wrote, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." See the problem? They were eager to be right with God but failed to seek it according to God's plan. Their issue was not a heart problem, but a head problem.
It is good to praise Jesus, it is good to openly confess our love for God, and it is good to go to church. Yet if we do not act based on real knowledge, it is empty. Zeal without knowledge does not save. This knowledge can only come from the word of God. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).
Jesus said it this way: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’" (Matthew 7:21-23).
Practically what does this mean? It means that we cannot replace our knowledge of the Bible with anything… whether traditions, feelings, desires, reasoning, or anything else. We must be people of the book and take our study seriously. It means we must stand firm on the authority of the scriptures. My faith and the practice of it is not of my own invention. Finally, it means always reexamining my own life to make sure I am living within God’s will and pursuing His ways. No one is immune from being wrong.