Question: We kind of talked about some of these things maybe, but what are the dangers that you see facing the recent movement of young, reformed Christians?
Paul: Wow. You know, Conrad Murrell said this one time, he said, you can go a thousand miles that way and walk in falsehood. You can go a thousand miles that way and walk in falsehood. But to walk in the truth is like walking on the edge of a razor blade, and you can fall off either side. And there are dangers in anything, any endeavor, any attempt there are dangers in the Christian life. That we fall off of one side or the other. The young guys who are serious about historical Christianity and truth, and living out their faith in the context of 2000 years of Christian history; the young men who have seen the reformation truths and want to embrace them, I applaud that. But they need to understand something: There’s more than the intellect in the Christian life. To grasp these things intellectually is one thing; For them to become realities in our life is another. To grasp these things intellectually is one thing; For them to become realities in our life is another. You sum up all of correct doctrine as it’s revealed in Scripture, you still do not have Jesus. This is pointing us to Jesus. Showing us who Jesus is. But it doesn’t equate with a relationship; a living relationship with the risen Christ. And that must be cultivated. We ought to study deep. We ought to pray long. To the young, budding theologians, I would tell them this: Don’t ever buy into the lie that doctrine or theology kills or takes away zeal. True doctrine, true theology will increase zeal. But study is not enough. Most of the older men that I have talked to, one of their greatest regrets has not been that they did not study enough, but that they did not pray enough. If you’re going to go for the deep truths, you must stay on your knees, or you are going to become large-headed; off-balanced, calloused, hard, proud. But if you will couple your intellectual endeavors with that of prayer, if your intellectual endeavors will just be a means of knowing God, then you’ll do alright.
Paul Washer of http://heartcrymissionary.com/
