Like a good gardener, God is not only concerned with the seed that is His Word but also with the soil of our hearts, with the watering of His Spirit, etc. For healthy spiritual growth, we need both knowledge and experience.

Some Christians are unbalanced. They may have one area of their life in which they are spiritually strong, but they are weak in other areas. For example, we meet people who have an impressive knowledge of the Bible. Meanwhile, their personal lives are in shambles. They always struggle with temptation and fall into sin. The problem is that they are unbalanced. They have an understanding of doctrine, but their lives are out of balance.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1 NASB). It should be noted that Paul wrote this from a prison in Rome. He was a prisoner because he did not want to compromise his beliefs, his life, and his message. And the first thing Paul tells Christians to do in this section of Ephesians is to live a life worthy of our calling.

Perhaps we might think, “How could I ever be worthy of this? There is nothing I can do to deserve God’s grace.” However, that is not what “worthy” means here. We could also translate the original word for “worthy” as “to balance the scales.” Therefore, when Paul said, “I want you to walk worthily,” he meant, “I want you to live a balanced life.”

We may have an understanding and belief in doctrine and prophecy and facts and figures, but if that does not affect the way we live as Christians, then we are missing the point. The Bible says: “And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3 NASB). In other words, our doctrine and beliefs should affect the way we live.

Yet there are also Christians who are unbalanced in other ways. They don’t know much about doctrine. They don’t actually know what the Bible teaches on certain subjects, but they love the Lord. And they are passionate about their faith in Jesus Christ. You might hear them say something like this: “Let’s not quibble about doctrine. I just love Jesus.” That sounds good, but we must realize that this is a dangerous statement. If we’re not careful, we could end up loving the wrong Jesus. We might end up believing the wrong gospel. That is where doctrine comes in.

The Bible makes it clear that in the last days, there will be false Christs, false Gospels, and even false miracles. Paul warned: “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3 NASB).

There must be a balance between our beliefs and practices and between our doctrine and our way of living. We need both areas to work together. That is what it means to walk worthy of the Lord.