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Back in December I had a phone conversation with my dad one night in which he couldn't believe I hadn't read or heard the latest news in Iran. I told him I don't really concern myself with that stuff because, considering my current duty assignment, there's no action for me to take regarding that intelligence –I have zero % chance of going over to Iran or affecting anything Militarily or politically speaking in that country for at least a couple years… I could be wrong, things could always change, but I basically, l can't fathom any possible way that I could take any action on that intelligence he was giving me…
It made me think a bit deeper about what information (aka intel) I can actually act upon, and of course it provided an opportunity for my dad to make a playful jab at me the next time he shared with me some news, “oh, wait, that's not intel you can act on, right?" he said. Little did I know when I started this blog post (which I've delayed writing for 3 months by the way – still need to blog on procrastination… Yeah, I'll do that one later) but little did I know that a book had been written on this kind of AI, oh, and I never saw the movie whose picture I used, sorry if it wasn't any good and I brought back unpleasant memories…
When it comes to Biblical principles on the other hand, I believe just about all of them include some actionable inteligence. It's just another word for practical application, and I can give a few examples.
– The ten commandments; although there are some “thou shalt nots" the actionable intelligence is to do things that prevent those prohibitions, like loving your enemy by saying kind words so that you don't hate which leads to murder.
– Continuing with the 10 commandment theme while throwing in some NT: How about loving your own wife so much that you don't even notice someone else's wife; and thanking God for what He's blessed you with so you don't covet what you don't have?
– Then of course the principle of training up your children…
– And I can't leave out making disciples (which is part of the previous bullet)
I could go on and on; the fruit of the spirit is another great place to get some actionable intelligence; love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, self-control – all of these drip with practical application, did I say drip? I should say, they OVERFLOW with the STUFF! And I've said it before so I'll say it again; STUFF to me is Spiritual, Timely, Useful, Faithful, Facts.
This is the AI you can take to the bank – but you wouldn't want to because it would just sit there; you actually gotta use it to see it pay dividends. So get out there and live what we have been called to live. Knowing isn't enough, there must also be doing. James says it best: “But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves."
So search the Scriptures today for some intel you can take action on, and then follow Nike's advice and “just do it!"
Peace,
Adam