James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Doing God's Word here in this verse is speaking of obedience, to
follow God's will for our life. Sometimes we are tempted to move away from what
we know God wants us to do, to accomplish things that we might want to do. This
disobedience is not disregarding the reading and study of the Word of God;
however, obedience should be the fruit of that study. When we become
comfortable in the fact that we are studying God's Word without following what
it teaches us, that is the point from which we are deceiving ourselves.
Jesus brought forth this
same principle at the end of His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew
7:24-27). He said that "the
one who heard the word without doing it was like a man who built his house on
the sand, but the one who heard God's word, and did it was like a man whose
house was built on a rock." To
endure the storms that will inevitably come in all of our lives, we must both
hear and do God's will for our lives, found in His Holy Word.
We are
significantly deficient in our spiritual growth when we read through the Bible
but do not employ anything we read to our lives. Understanding what is in the
Bible is one thing; it is quite another to apply what we know to our lives. A
doer of the Word is following the gospel of Christ Jesus as a pattern for their
lives. A Christian that audits what they learn from the Bible will never attain
true maturity in their walk with the Lord. On the other hand, the Christians
that get serious about their Bible study and studies for the exams will
experience daily spiritual growth. These will say that their walk with Christ
Jesus is sweeter and stronger today than it was yesterday and will become as
such as every day passes. Our responsibility to share the gospel with others
notwithstanding, a doer of the Word will please our Lord and Savior Christ
Jesus.
Some preachers or Bible
teachers may eloquently and persuasively present a message on the Gospel of
Christ Jesus or fully explain a specific section of the Bible. It sheds light
to understand what the writer had in mind entirely. However, it is far from
done when the sermon concludes, or the Bible Study class is over. What remains
is for the hearers to do what Jesus is teaching from God's Word. If one is
content with the sentimental approval and appreciation or enjoyment of the
spiritual hors d'oeuver they have just partaken of; then they are deceiving
themselves.
A preacher was
ending his Sunday sermon, and as he came down from the pulpit, his wife said to
him, "is the message all said and done dear," to which he replied,
"No, it is all said, it is far from done yet."
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