The Christian faith that has come to you and me is a massive inheritance, complex and rich. But that very volume and complexity can get us so distracted with peripheral things that we lose the main thing.

Linguistic scholars can analyze and catalog the Bible’s Greek and Hebrew vocabulary; anthropologists can relate the Bible’s stories to scientific discoveries of other ancient civilizations; archeologists can dig for ancient religious artifacts; historians can track the spread of the church; architects and engineers can devote lifetimes to studying historic places of worship; musicians can immerse themselves into the myriad styles of church music that have come down to us. Art scholars can specialize in Christian imagery and media.

All those are wonderful things, but they are no substitute for the core activity that Jesus himself described on one of his journeys: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). All the scholarly discoveries in the world are no replacement for connecting to Christ through the Word. Knowledge won’t save you on judgment day. Only Christ will.

I hope that you put energy and talent to work in building the church—maintenance, bookkeeping, food preparation, human care, music, outreach, and organizing for services. Just make sure that the main thing is always your main thing. Listen to your Savior’s voice; absorb it; take it to heart; trust him completely; arrange your life according to what he has said.

Hear. Read. Believe. Do.