Active Listeners

James 1:22-25

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

This is such a rich chapter, if you have a chance family, check it out. 

James, the half brother of Jesus Christ. James, the man who refers to himself as a slave of Jesus Christ in the opening verse. James, a man who had refused to believe that his brother was the Messiah, only to fall to his knees later in realization. James throws out some hefty challenges to believers. James seriously drops some heavy stuff on anyone who calls themselves a disciple of God, a Christian. The verses listed above were some of the most impacting verses I know of in this book. “Be doers of the Word, not just hearers.” Do we just take in, never to apply or share? The Bible does us no good if it is not believed and applied in our life. If we hear all the verses on Christ’s forgiveness and sacrifice and on how we need to be like God and be holy and how we Christians just have to love everyone and trust God, but yet we never are willing to actually to apply these principles, these commands, in our lives, what good does it do? If we hear/read verses on purity (any type of purity, not just sexual purity), but we are excited about sin, or even just not willing to give it up, what good does that do to us? What type of faith are we living out? What does that say about our God? That we are too good for His commands but just live off His grace? That we take advantage of the King of Kings who holds the Universe in His hands? Christian, let it not be so in your life. Whether it be Jesus restating the commandments of loving God first with our everything and loving our neighbors as ourselves in Matthew 22, or whether it be a verse speaking on unity of the church and not abandoning fellowship as a body of believers, we must have every part of the Bible be applied, we must seek to do it. Not because works save us, but because works are a sign of our faith. Faith without works is dead, works without faith are well intentioned but pointless. Faith and works go hand in hand. Jesus did not just say that He is God and leave it at that with nothing to prove it, no, He demonstrated that He was God through the life He lived, the words He spoke, and the example He led. Paul did not just say he was a Christian, he lived it out! He applied the fact that he was unworthy to be allowed to know such a perfect and holy God, but yet God had grace on Him and gave him a purpose and meaning. Paul lived that purpose out. Family, what do we do with the words of God? When the Bible is being read, at church, by a friend, or personally, do we just skim over it, only half paying attention, willing to forget what we learned. We will not remember it unless we put forth the effort to remember it. James tells us that if we apply the Word to our lives, it won’t be easy, we must persevere. God will get us through it though if we focus on Him and not the storm. 

Be doers, not just hearers

Blessings