Hearing & Doing...

Read James 1:22-25

Messages bombard us everyday. Messages that have importance and messages that have little to no effect on the quality of our lives. And the truth be told, too many of us listen more to these latter messages than the messages that have true importance and impact in our daily lives.

James writes these words in James 1:22 - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Think about this - so many hear the word of God and 'merely listen.' We ignore doing what it says and James says when we do this we are deceiving ourselves. But how are we deceiving ourselves? Later in verse 26 he writes with using the example of someone who considers himself religious but doesn't keep a tight reign on his tongue, his words. He says the person who does this deceives himself and his religion/faith is worthless.

Never were we intended to merely hear the word of God. We were always intended to hear it and do it - this friends is faith; faith that is belief put into action. May we examine our faith today, this week and reflect on James' words. Ask ourselves, am I deceiving myself? Is my faith worthless?

At the end of verse 25 James says when we do not forget what we hear, but put our faith into action and do what it says we will be "blessed" in what we do. Take this blessing and receive it into your life. Be a person whose faith is hearing and doing for this is what pleases our Father.