One Truth, One Step: A Path for Everyday Application
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”—Colossians 3:16-17 (ESV)
We live in a time when we are saturated with biblical content—sermons, podcasts, studies, books, and conferences. As a bit of a content junkie myself, I love it! (That’s probably a post for another day!)
But if we’re honest, all this input can leave us overwhelmed. For years, I sat in church apprehensive, sure I would leave with another long list of things to do. Though I faithfully attended, I sometimes felt like I wasn’t really growing. It became easy to just file away what I learned and keep living as I always have.
Looking back, I see that part of the struggle was my misunderstanding of what it means to apply Scripture. Over the past few years, especially as I received counseling myself, God was teaching me that application starts in my response to God, not with me trying harder to do more.
During this time, two clarifying truths emerged. First, application has two dimensions. Responding to God in worship, confession, or lament is not only valid but often the first step of real application. It reorients my heart (vertically) so that I would speak, not out of duty, but out of love for Him (horizontally).
Second, application doesn’t always require a massive life overhaul. Sometimes God calls us to radical steps, but more often His sanctifying work unfolds through small, faithful responses that add up to big changes over time.
David Powlison describes this transformation in his article “Think Globally, Act Locally”: God’s Word gives us global gospel truths, but growth happens locally—one person, one situation, one concrete step at a time. This was a relief: sometimes what I hear in a sermon are these greater truths, but even a tiny (sometimes unseen) change in my heart towards God is application too.
So how can we begin applying God’s Word?
Begin With God: Application as Worship
We often rush to action. We hear a sermon on patience, and by Monday morning we resolve to grit our teeth with our kids or coworkers. But biblical application doesn’t begin with self-improvement projects. It begins with God Himself.
Know It — Seeing the Indicatives Behind the Imperatives
Every passage of Scripture first reveals who God is and what He has done. The Bible is not mainly a rulebook but God’s self-revelation. The indicatives (what is true of God, what Christ has accomplished, who we are in Him) ground the imperatives (what we are called to do).
For example, Paul writes, “You have been raised with Christ” (indicative). Therefore, “set your minds on things above” (imperative, Col. 3:1–2). Before asking, “What should I do?” we ask, “What is true here?”
Wrestle With It — Honest Heart Work
Truth must sink in. Scripture confronts our unbelief, desires, and resistance. Though we are made new in Christ, our hearts are still being in the process of being transformed. Our flesh, the world and the devil pull us away from God’s truth, encouraging resistance. Yet God, by His Spirit, patiently works in us, helping us wrestle honestly before Him.
So instead of trying to tackle everything at once, focus your attention on something more “local”—what is surfacing in me today. Ask yourself questions like:
What truth about God challenges my perspective?
What sin or false belief is being exposed?
Why do I resist this?
What encouragement is God holding out?
Respond to God
Knowing and wrestling with God’s truth should naturally leads to response. But before we think about outward action, Scripture calls us to turn first to God Himself. Application is not first about self-improvement projects or simply trying harder. It is about deepening relationship with the Lord, which then bears the fruit of obedience in our lives.
So if Scripture is first a revelation of who God is and what He has done in Christ, and we’ve identified where in our lives that truth intersects, our response becomes “Who is God, and how do I worship Him in this?”
These Godward responses may take different forms in prayer:
Praise and thanksgiving (1 Thess. 5:18): “Father, thank You that You are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Confession and repentance (1 John 1:9): “Lord, I am not like You. I see how quick-tempered I am, and I repent of trying to control life on my own terms.”
Lament (Ps. 13): “God, I long for Your patience to shape me, but I feel so weak.”
Prayer and supplication (Phil. 4:6): “Help me depend on You in this specific struggle.”
Other Godward responses might also include:
Meditation on God’s Word (Ps. 1:2): lingering over a truth until it shapes our heart.
Waiting and resting (Ps. 37:7): trusting God’s timing rather than rushing to fix things.
Remembering and recalling (Deut. 8:2; Ps. 77:11–12): calling to mind God’s past faithfulness and rehearsing His promises so they anchor us in the present.
You don’t need to do all of these every time. (That would contradict the whole point of this post!) Instead, consider which one appropriate response the Spirit is nudging you toward today.
When we begin vertically—worshiping, confessing, trusting—we are reminded that application is about communion with the living God. This keeps our faith from becoming a self-help program and draws us instead into relationship with the living God. As we abide in Him, then we can consider how His truth shapes our words and actions.
Act Locally: One Truth, One Step
Even if we to begin with God, we can still feel buried under too many truths to possibly apply. As Powlison points out, Scripture gives us global truths about the sweeping reality of God’s redemptive work in Christ.
But we live those truths out locally, in the nitty-gritty of daily life. This means you don’t need to apply everything you hear in a sermon or read in a book at once in every area of your life. Instead, narrow your focus, asking yourself questions like:
What one truth stood out to me today? What one way of love is God inviting me into right now?
Where in my life do I most need this truth right now?
What one small, concrete step could I take in response?
For example, maybe you hear a sermon on God’s sovereignty. The “global” truth is that He rules all things with wisdom and love. “Locally,” perhaps you’re facing anxiety about your child’s future. Rather than trying to master every implication of God’s sovereignty, you might take the sermon’s passage and pray it each time worry rises.
Application also does not need to be “one and done.” It can take time. Let’s say you read Eph. 4:32 in your own personal Bible reading, “Be kind to one another… forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” The “global” truth is that God has forgiven us in Christ—fully and freely. “Locally,” maybe you are wrestling with bitterness toward someone.
Instead of trying to untangle every hurt right away, you could start by first responding to God, confessing your hardness of heart and thanking Him for His forgiveness. In time, you may then move to asking a friend to pray you might grow in forgiveness toward this individual. As God does His work in your heart, then you can solidify your commitment to forgive by choosing one concrete act of kindness toward this person.
A Simple Path for Everyday Application
Remember: Fruit is meant to glorify God and nourish others. As God grows His Word in us, let it deepen your own personal relationship with God. Then, if appropriate, consider sharing it through word or action with those closest to you in the moment.
For me personally, whether listening to a sermon or podcast or doing my own devotional reading, I like to save some time at the end to ask myself one of these questions and then at least respond to God in some way. As the opportunity arises, I also consider how it might be shared with others. Sometimes someone comes to mind and I text them. Sometimes it comes up in conversation.
The good news is that God does not expect us to apply everything at once. Sanctification is not mainly about doing more, but about walking more closely with Christ. As His Spirit works, He will sometimes call us to hard obedience, but always by grace, one degree at a time (2 Cor. 3:18).
Start small. Take one truth and let it meet one place in your life today. This is what faithful application looks like. It is learning to see God as He is (global), wrestling with how His truth confronts or comforts me (local), responding vertically in worship, and then living it out horizontally in love.
And as you do, you will find yourself growing in Christ—and helping others grow as well.