Every Sunday morning our church has, as I'm sure most churches do, a Sunday School. We also have studies going as additional opportunities for not only learning God's word, but, and perhaps more importantly, learning how to apply what we have learned to our daily Christian living.

I don't have to tell you that scarcely a class goes by when someone doesn't say something like, "You know, I never realized that." Because of these kinds of remarks, I am, therefore, astounded at the tremendous number of Christians who believe they don't need devotional study opportunities. "I go to church on Sunday (meaning they attend the worship service only) and that's enough."

To me, this response is roughly equivalent to saying, "I know what a STOP sign means therefore there's nothing more I need to know about motor vehicle laws." One has only to drive a few miles to observe countless individuals who either seem to know nothing about motor vehicle laws or simply don't care to observe them.

In my Bible reading this week I came upon a couple of interesting verses in Psalm 119 (NLT) that were most interesting. The first was verse 7 which said "When I learn your righteous laws, I will thank you by living as I should."

It is important to understand that this was written by an individual who did a lot more than go to Sunday school. This psalm was written by an "Israelite of exemplary piety who was passionately devoted to the word of God as the word of life" (NIV Study Bible, page 1162). It is evident by the use of the word when that began the verse that even this individual understood that his knowledge was not complete. So how can we say we don't need Sunday school or a Wednesday evening devotional.

The second part of the verse and the first past of verse 8 should be joined together for they represent the authors (and ours?) response to the knowledge contained in God's law. "I will thank you by living as I should. I will obey your principles." We not only need to learn how to apply God's laws to our lives we should thank him and utilize what we have learned.

Think of it. Jesus gave us one simple rule. "Love one another" and still we neither fully understand it nor apply it. That is, of course, what makes the last part of verse 8 so important to us. The psalmist asked of God, "Please don't give up on me!" and he won't but we "gotta keep tryin'."