Who are you: A listener or a Doer?
The book of James states that if we are merely hearers and not doers of the Word, we are deluding or deceiving ourselves as he exhorts us in James 1:22.
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22
Many of us go to Church Sunday after Sunday, from Christian meetings to seminars to conferences and camps, but they end up not doing the Word. Charles Finney once said that bible teaching without moral application could be worse than no teaching at all and this could result in injury to the hearers. It may seem that this was an extreme position but I have come to realise that it is a very true and realistic position.In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus spoke about the wise man who was laying a deep and lasting foundation, and when the flood and storm came, the house did not fall. He likened such a man as one who hears His Word and does them – it is the one who obeys whatever Jesus says. In a similar passage in Matthew 7:24-27, it is said that the winds blew and beat on the house and Luke accounts it as the stream beating vehemently against the house. Looking at these two accounts, we can see an intense pressure coming upon the house but yet it could stand. Such is the importance of being a doer of the Word. It ensures that we will be able to withstand the intense storms and beatings of life that come crashing down on us.
So what if we know the whole bible? Without applying the truths in it, the bible just becomes like another piece of information that is in your head. The storms of life and the pressures of the world are truely real and the only way we can stand steadfast and not stumble is not by just only knowing the Scriptures but to obey everything that is said. Many Christians have backslided and fall, and many have been unable to withstand the storms, vehemently and mercilessly beating against them, because they have not truly walked a life of obedience to the Word of God!
How then do we be a doer? The key here once is obedience. We got to obey God and be near to
Him. But remember people, do not let the reading the obeying of the word evolve into legalism. In other words, focus on the essence, not on the letter of the law, and also read it in context.
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22
Many of us go to Church Sunday after Sunday, from Christian meetings to seminars to conferences and camps, but they end up not doing the Word. Charles Finney once said that bible teaching without moral application could be worse than no teaching at all and this could result in injury to the hearers. It may seem that this was an extreme position but I have come to realise that it is a very true and realistic position.In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus spoke about the wise man who was laying a deep and lasting foundation, and when the flood and storm came, the house did not fall. He likened such a man as one who hears His Word and does them – it is the one who obeys whatever Jesus says. In a similar passage in Matthew 7:24-27, it is said that the winds blew and beat on the house and Luke accounts it as the stream beating vehemently against the house. Looking at these two accounts, we can see an intense pressure coming upon the house but yet it could stand. Such is the importance of being a doer of the Word. It ensures that we will be able to withstand the intense storms and beatings of life that come crashing down on us.
So what if we know the whole bible? Without applying the truths in it, the bible just becomes like another piece of information that is in your head. The storms of life and the pressures of the world are truely real and the only way we can stand steadfast and not stumble is not by just only knowing the Scriptures but to obey everything that is said. Many Christians have backslided and fall, and many have been unable to withstand the storms, vehemently and mercilessly beating against them, because they have not truly walked a life of obedience to the Word of God!
How then do we be a doer? The key here once is obedience. We got to obey God and be near to
Him. But remember people, do not let the reading the obeying of the word evolve into legalism. In other words, focus on the essence, not on the letter of the law, and also read it in context.
posted by The Professor at 7:50 PM
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