Do what it says.
Lessons from the book of James (#6)
Imagine looking in a mirror and seeing a huge piece of black licorice stuck between your front teeth and then turning away from the mirror and immediately forgetting that the candy is still there for everyone to see.
In James (one of the books of the Bible) we read:
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. (James 1:22-25 ESV)
Just listening to scripture or just reading scripture is of little value. We need to study the scriptures carefully, think about what we are reading, and pray for understanding. We need to be intentional and diligent in our Bible study. We need to persevere in our study of the Word, and then we need to do what scripture tells us to do. We need to put the Biblical principles we are learning into practice.
“… a doer who acts, … will be blessed in his doing.”
We need to do something. We need to get the licorice out of our teeth.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27 ESV)
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