When Truth Hasn’t Touched Us Yet

Hey, this is Tim, and welcome to the Student Life Podcast, where we explore the everyday challenges and big questions of life through a biblical lens while navigating the realities of a secular world. Enjoy. Hey yo, what up? So I'm your host Tim Pratt Jr., and I'm dropping another episode for you today, and this one we're going to call When Truth Doesn't Hit Us. Uh, better yet, said, let's— yeah, When Truth Hasn't Touched us yet. When truth hasn't touched us yet. So this one, it's kind of— it might feel a little bit like psychology, but it's not. Uh, so many of y'all know that I'm a very proactive of a therapist, not for just getting a therapist for a therapist's sake, because therapists are human. So yes, they go through things as well. But I believe— I don't, I don't advocate that— I believe everybody needs a therapist, like a coach. It might be a more mature believer. It could be your pastor or somebody on your pastoral staff, but they need to be equipped and more mature. Now, I would definitely advocate that you go get a therapist if you feel that you really need one, depending on what's there, uh, things of like that nature. So this— please don't use this episode as a crutch, is what I'm trying to say. Uh, I actually hope this one, kind of like previous ones I've done, helps in that lightness. So many of y'all have been rocking with me know that I'm highly transparent. I'm 36 years old. I turned 36 again December 9th of last year. Uh, I like— I'm getting older, your boy getting older. Especially to my kids, I'm an old man. It's all relative, but I will say it seems like it does go fast. I literally remember 10 years ago when I was 26, literally talking to this version of myself in the future. I literally used to write myself emails. Uh, that's, that's it. How that grace. But, uh, this one, yeah, so I want to jump straight into it if that's cool with you all. And again, man, I appreciate you all that are rocking with me consistently, but I want to talk about the mind, body, soul— the mind, body, soul, and heart. Scripture is very clear about it. Um, and so one of the things that I am starting to just really re-go back and look at the scriptures, uh, is formation. Formation in the context of this episode is always the aim. And so what I want to do is that, like, when, when scripture talks about mind, the heart, the body, and the soul, this is never an abstract thing like a lot of us may feel. Like, it's always directional. It is always moving us towards being formed in the image of Christ. Like, and a lot of us, what tends to happen is we just want to be informed about him, but we're not being shaped and formed to his image. And like, one of my, one of my favorite verses to read and study and meditate on, it always comes back to, is Romans 12:1-2. And many of you probably know this one already. If you don't, get your Bible, go look it up, pull it on your phone, pull it up on your phone. And it deals with the renewal of the mind. You've heard me say this verse a lot of times. The renewal of the mind leads to transformed living. Like, we are consistently supposed to renew our minds and the thinking. This is just not correcting bad thinking. Paul is writing to believers, calling them to embody obedience. He's calling to like, basically, I want this to be seared in your mind. I want your thinking to be as if like it is Christ's mind. And so we are to renew our thinking in his word through the power of the Holy spirit. Proverbs, you've heard me quote this. I believe I have an episode if you haven't checked it out. I believe it's called Guarded Heart or something like that nature. But the heart has control of the center of life, like not just emotions only. It is the central place of life. It's, it's what governs us. And so we can go on into some other ones as well, but we're going to park there. But if you, if you really want to dig deep, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Colossians 1:28. And of course we can pull out a whole host of Proverbs and other versus. But what I really want to get at, again, in the context of this particular episode, is that when we really look within ourselves, especially like in a leadership capacity, whether you're leading your wife, your kids, on your job— all of us are leaders and followers to some degree, even if you always heard me say, even if we're leading ourselves. But if parts of us are fragmented, if they are out of order, if they're untouched, untouched, uh, unexamined, those places never get shaped by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. They never do because they're off guard. The word of God can't penetrate them, not because the word of God is not effective, is because we won't allow it. And so again, this is not motivational speak, this is not psycho, uh, psychology language, this is biblical sound doctrine, as my dad often says. This is biblical. And so we want to rightly divide the scriptures um, when, when it comes to this, like for example with me, I was asked a question. I was asked a question not too long ago when it— when I was, uh, in my counseling session, and it was like, hey, can you be saved and still not examine the dark areas of your soul? And I do. I believe if I would have died, especially recently, I would have went to go be with the Lord. But man, there's still some areas that hasn't been confronted. So yes, I'm I'm saved and I'm spending time with the Lord, but I didn't reflect God in the way he desired me to reflect him in this world. There are probably some things that I just didn't— I couldn't really help people the way they needed to be helped because I wouldn't examine those things. And so this, this is where this weight comes in, because when, when we leave things uninformed, it gets transmitted. Let me say that again: when we leave things uninformed, it gets transmitted. Transmitted, meaning that we can't help people walk in something that we have not yet walked in ourselves. We can't. Like, we— like, hear me, like, we're— even when it— like, even when it doesn't— like, let me, let me back up. Even when we're unintentionally doing it, I'm not saying like we can pass on spirits and all of that. I'm not, I'm not in— no, I'm not— I'm saying like the hurt, our language effective counseling and coaching. We reproduce who we are. We teach one thing, but we reproduce who we are. That's why it's more than just teaching alone. We have to live it. Now, I can go to scripture where Jesus did tell them, hey, do as they say but not as they do. Why did Jesus have to make that distinction when they were complaining about, um, the Pharisees and things of that nature? He said, do as they say but not as they do, because their life didn't support what they were teaching. So yes, what I'm saying is that if someone is teaching the truth, we should obey that. But I want to also be able to model your life. I want you to be able to model my life, not in perfection, because only one perfect being has walked this earth, fully God and fully man, and that's Jesus Christ. But at the same time, Luke tells us— Luke 6, Luke 6:40 tells us that a disciple will be like his teacher. Jesus is talking about formation, like formation. I am being formed into the image. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. This has never been about just information alone. It has never been. James, like, hear me, teachers and leaders of the gospel, if you're, if you're leading your kids— teachers are held to a stricter judgment, influence multipli— implies impact. I don't, I don't think we really understand. We want the, all the glory or whatever that comes with leadership and being a teacher and being an effective influencer, but we are held to a stricter judgment. So when we look at this, some of us, some of us, if not many of us, when it comes to this type of level of maturity that we have to walk in, we don't want it. We don't want it. We want the results of it, but we don't want to walk through the process of it. So we are continually being formed when it comes to the things of God. Like, this is something that we have to take really serious. Or in other words, going back to the title of this episode, we're not letting truth penetrate there. We— like, this is why I believe that we over-index on certain areas, and then we don't— when we have to look at the whole counsel of the gospel, we want to stay away from certain areas that really confront us. Us, because like the most dangerous things that we can do is have information, not practice obedience. Let me say that again. The most— one of the most dangerous things that we can do is have information and not practice obedience. Maturity requires discernment. It, it really does. Maturity requires discernment and requires obedience. And most of the time, most of the time, I truly believe that our impact, the impact that we desire to have, is good. I do. I really believe that a lot of times in life we have good intentions, but intentions alone doesn't mean anything. The intent alone doesn't mean anything if the impact is producing something that's totally different. And so scripture is consistently treat it like— if we really think about it, scripture, does it ask us to look at the intent or the fruit? Does Matthew 7, uh, like the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians, does it— the scripture calls us to look at someone's intent or their fruit or lack of their fruit? Because like, hear me, man, like I can't even speak for myself, unhealed places, they don't stay private. They don't. I was just telling my wife the other day, I say, man, I wish I just would have learned how to like practically pursue wholeness at an earlier age. Like, full of a lot of word, but I wish I knew how to really I wish I would have been encouraged younger to go get help, to go get counsel, to go sit with people that were really equipped to help me walk through things like going through acne, going through trying to different phases of identity and things. So when I wanted to be in the streets because I thought that was cool and I thought that's how I gained my respect, um, just then trying to come like out of it, going through all these different motions and stuff. Like, I really wish somebody would have just helped me. Like, my parents were great, don't get me wrong. I had good people in my life. But I'm saying like, I wish I just would have somebody that was like more equipped to like really help me navigate, like a, like a real biblical counselor, therapist. Not that I'm putting my hope in them, but I wish I would just had that piece of it. But at the same time, God still shielded me and protected me from a lot because of the parents and because of certain people that were in my life. But what I have come to learn also too is that areas that I didn't deal with and I just prayed and asked like they really stay unhealed. And they— in, in my marriage, with my kids, and on work, and just different dynamics, when the pressure will go up, I notice like, wow, this ain't really silent, this ain't— this not private. They actually shaping the way I see culture and how I— they're shaping my tone, my expectations. And last but not least, they're shaping my relational patterns because that sin nature is still there. So I don't, I don't want you to think that just because you're hearing truth— the word of God says to hear is to obey. And so we want to give God full access to every room within our inner soul, not just parts, not just like, hey, you can go here but not, not here, Lord. Like, we, we wanna, we, we wanna be real with this again because the word of God says to hear is to obey. And if we're not hearing, if we're not obeying, then God in his word is saying that we're not obeying. Like, Jake, like, hearing without doing is self-deception. Let me say that again. Hearing without doing is self-deception. It's not just an immature thing, no. This is like we are self-deceived, like, and I'm telling you, hear from me, like, we don't want to walk in it. It is one of the most dangerous things to walk in, to think that you're right and you're self-deceived. Self-deception, meaning that you are deceiving yourself. No one else is doing this. You are deceiving yourself. So Jesus, like, I mean, this is the word of God. James 1:22-25. Again, you can read Matthew 7. We can go to Hebrews 4:2. It says the— I'm not going to quote, but when in Hebrews 4:2, the word didn't benefit them because it was ununited with faith. It wasn't. Truth was expressed through obedience. Truth was. So to hear, again, to hear is obey. To hear is really to obey. This is scripture. And again, I, I seen this post floating around online around the context of mastering the language of healing but not healing. But I'm gonna tell you like this: if you are not healed, if you have mastered the language and you are not healed, you really don't know it. All you doing is just regurgitating what you read in the book, what you seen somebody say on TikTok, what you seen on YouTube, what you read on, uh, Facebook, Instagram, uh, what you seen on Instagram or something like that. You're just repeating things that you've learned how to say well, but that truth is not formed you. It's not formed us. We have to really lean in, and this is the difference between fluency and formation. This is the difference between just speaking well and I'm actually being formed into the image of price. I'm actually doing the work. Like, we really have to lean in and be honest with it. Like, this is not going to be a super long episode because I want my, my heart— and I do have some bonus content coming out this month as well, dealing with more of the marketplace, like just our skill set, because we know this is Student Life Podcast, so it's all things life. Uh, but the reality of it is, is that fluency is not formation. Just because, like, we can— let me— help me, Holy Spirit. Sometimes we have a danger just because we have awareness into something I'm aware of it, but what are you doing with that awareness? Because again, if we're not doing anything with that awareness, then the reality of it is that we can be faked out and we think that we're changing just because we're aware, but we're not changing. Like, we have to really take an honest look within our lives and acts and say, Lord, help me, help me navigate this. I want to really look like you. Like, whatever it is, man, if it's issue with your kids, if it's an issue with your parents, if it's issues with your spouse a close friend, even a girlfriend and boyfriend right now, fiancé. Like, first and foremost, have you brought anybody in that you really trust that's more mature, that's not going to expose you all but can help you walk this thing out in life? Like bringing in a more mature believer. There are people out here that are really equipped that can sit with you and walk and say, man, I can meet you where you are. It's not that I'm better than, it's just, man, I've walked this out. But hey, don't ever get it twisted. Somebody's helping me do the same thing I'm helping you do. That's how it should be. But sometimes, man, we're just too prideful and we're too arrogant, and we sit and we confuse forgiveness with healing. Like, we need each other. This— Jesus has decided to, uh, use mankind to help mankind. But now, forgiveness, only God can do that, and he's done that through his son Jesus Christ. When we ask it, maintain a repentant posture and things of changing our thinking, But a lot of times healing emotionally and things like that, trauma, like traumatic experience, uh, like a lot of those type of things come through with people. It does. So I just, man, I want to encourage you all not to belabor the point, uh, but we gotta lock in, man. We, we have to lock in and we have to make sure that truth is touching us. Don't let us be like this episode when truth hasn't touched us yet. Because we're hearing it. You listen to me, you listen, you dialed into certain podcasts and things of that nature, but if it's not making its way to produce us to look like Christ, to lead into formation, man, we just talking. We just talking a good game and we're going like the book, it's like a man looking in the mirror, forget what he looks like, loosely paraphrasing it. We got to stop this. We have to do the work. God wants to be in a tender relationship with us. The Holy Spirit is not going to do a lot of mystical things without doing the work. We still have to lean in and be in partnership. We have to work. Like, because this is the thing, when Jesus went— when Jesus went to the cross and he said, 'It is finished,' that means that he desires us to be in agreement with the finished works of Christ. Spiritually. We are being sanctified. So we're justified, we're being sanctified, but we are not yet in our glorified bodies. So there are things that we are still wrestling with. Like, look, I'm telling you, man, that's a whole nother conversation. But always feel free to get in contact with me. Like, if you find me on my social media, like, you can— I believe this episode and my podcast, it has a link and it'll come to my, uh, it'll come to my phone somehow, some way. It should be a link in there. If it's not, I'm gonna go check it. If you hit it, like, just— I'm down to talk with anybody. And if I can't help you, I strive to have people that I believe that are way more equipped than me that can help you in the area that I might can't help. Because yes, I have the Holy Spirit and feel— I believe filled with the Holy Spirit, but there are areas I just— I might not be good at. But I trust and believe that I'm connected with enough that I believe I can point you in the right direction. And if not, we can pray and we will find through the power of God. So man, I love you. Be blessed. I hope this short episode has touched you, impacted you in some kind of way. And man, share it. Share with that person that you deeply care about. If y'all at odds or whatever, just seem like, man, this is an issue where we kind of have some, some traumatic stuff, and we have to explore these things. So man, again, be blessed. Love you all. Praying for you. Thank you for your time. Out. Thanks for joining me today on the Student Life Podcast, and remember Learning never stops, and wisdom grows as we seek truth in both scripture and life. And until next time, keep walking faithfully and thinking deeply. Be blessed.