It’s easier than ever to be a hearer of the Word, isn’t it? From books to podcasts to livestreamed worship services, we have access to a constant stream of information about God. Here in Claiborne County, Mississippi, we have over 60 different congregations serving a little less than 9000 people. So with a church right around every corner, everyone can conveniently gather with fellow believers to learn about the Bible.
No, our problem with the Bible isn’t with hearing it, but with doing it. For as one of my professors in seminary made clear, the problem we have with the Bible isn’t what we don’t understand about it. No, the real problem is believing and putting into practice the part that we do understand.
For we know that Jesus and Moses told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). But isn’t it easier to be carried away by our own lusts (James 1:14), to live in filthiness and wickedness (James 1:21), doing whatever seems right or feels good to us?
Moreover, we know that Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for those who mistreat us (Matthew 5:44). But instead of “bridling our tongues” (James 1:26), isn’t it easier to become angry (James 1:19), to hurl verbal abuse at those who hurt us, either to their face or behind their back? And isn’t it easier to keep to ourselves instead of taking care of the orphans and widows, the most vulnerable of the people around us (James 1:27)?
But James will not allow us to go on in such half-hearted religion (James 1:26). No, he insists that those who hear God’s Word but refuse to put it into practice are deceiving ourselves (James 1:22). He warns us that claiming Christ as our Savior without also bowing the knee to Him as our Lord means missing the whole point of the Christian faith. In fact, without putting our faith into practice, we can’t even claim truly to know ourselves (James 1:24).
So, today, let’s not just hear the Word of God. Let’s follow His perfect law of love. For in that way, we can be sure of receiving His blessing (James 1:25).
James 1:18-27 (ESV)
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 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.
24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
25 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.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.