"A Tale of Two Auditors"

 

“A Tale of Two Auditors”

 

One of the leaders in our Manchester church was a CPA who specialized in municipal audits. These are done periodically to make sure public funds are being utilized properly. (If there was a news report that someone was in trouble for cooking government books there was a reasonable chance that he was the one who found the discrepancy.)  Businesses, charitable institutions and churches would also do well to verify the accuracy of their financial records to meet responsibilities to investors and contributors, not to mention government regulators.

While my friend was an auditor whose work called for accountability of clients there’s another type of auditor: those who enroll in courses but who have no obligation to do assignments or take exams—they just want to accumulate information in areas of personal interest. Often this leads to being long on facts but short on putting them to use in daily life.

Sometimes we as believers are like those who sit in a classroom, take in a lot of knowledge but fail to put it into practice. Our Lord’s brother addressed this when he wrote, “Do not merely listen to the word…Do what it says.” (James 1:22, emphasis added). In other words, it’s inconsistent of me to “audit” Scripture but fail to live it out. Warren Wiersbe (one of my favorite authors) said in a radio broadcast, “…It is easy to think we are “spiritual” because we listen to one preacher after another, take notes, mark our Bibles, but never practice what we learn.” (Author’s emphasis). While God expects us as His people to learn His truth (“…Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”—2 Peter 3:18) its overall purpose is to shape and mature us in our faith (“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the {people} of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”—2 Timothy 3:16-17, emphasis added).

Someone has observed that life’s crises are God’s practical exams. Will I pass? The type of auditor I am will go a long way towards answering this question.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan