Learning Exists For The Sake Of Doing

I believe that I am not alone when I say that I have a great love of learning. Learning can be invigorating, it illumines that which was once a mystery or a conundrum. It enables the learner to gain new appreciation.  But is that all? No, learning is primarily for the purpose of doing. Learning allows the illumined person to bring the useful and beautiful into being. It is the learned who heal the sick, build useful objects, and so on.

Learning is no different when it comes to sacred knowledge. The primary purpose for learning sacred truth is to do something with that knowledge. In the case of Christianity, the learning is for the sake of our transformation into the likeness of the one, unique, God-Man, Jesus Christ. When it comes to Christian knowledge, any use of learning other than that which is applied to our doing, is for the most part a waste of time, mere entertainment for entertainment sake.

The last judgement, at least as Jesus Christ speaks of it in Matt 25:21-36, will be all about what we have done with our knowledge. Now let’s be clear, knowledge is needed, however, it is needed for one reason, and that is in order to do something with it.  

Whenever we spend our precious time reading, or listening, our focus should first and foremost be on what we are to do. If you’ve never tried learning with this goal in mind it can be quite daunting. The more one knows, the more there is to do. With great knowledge, comes great responsibility. It has been said by the great ascetics that we should read the bible just enough to figure out what God would have us do.

As an example of this, if you open you New Testament to the first book and start reading, it will be a while before you find the first general command.. That command is found in Matt 3:2 where John the Baptist says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  While there is a great deal of information given leading up to this point, the purpose for all of that information is so that we might “repent”.  The information in the first two chapters mean nothing if we do not “Repent”.

No amount of doctrinal knowledge, no amount of trust called faith, or mental ascent to truths, amount to any value whatsoever, if we do not do what we are commanded. Learning is for doing, and it is our doing that God will judge.