Listening and Doing

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
- James 1:22

Listening to the word is not the same as doing what it says. We can easily mix these two up.

We listen to God’s word on Sunday and agree with what we hear. The scripture that’s read in worship resonates in our hearts. Alex preaches and we say “Amen.” All week long we listen to the Bible and reflect on what we’re hearing.

Listening is important work. But listening is not the same as doing.

When God speaks to us he isn’t just passing along information; he’s calling us to action. What we hear from him should impact how we live for him. Listening and doing need to go hand in hand.

This week we’re going to dig into what’s really the heart of James’ letter to his brothers and sisters in Christ. We’ll hear James’ call to align our faith and our work in the world. We’ll receive James’ invitation to put our faith on display. But we have to be careful.

As we read James’ teaching this week, we can be tempted to agree with him AND ignore him.

We each have a capacity for self-deception. When we hear something and believe it our capacity for self-deception steps in and attempts to convince us that our lives align perfectly with our values. We mistake aspiration for reality. There’s always a gap between who we think we are and who we actually are. This is where hypocrisy grasps us. And this is where God uses the gift of wisdom to set us free.

When we know that God desires us to both hear and do, we can use a set of questions like the questions below to resist our tendency toward self-deception.

Try asking these questions today:

  • Is there any command from the Lord that you are knowingly disobeying?
  • Is there any call from the Lord that you are actively resisting?
  • Is there any word from the Lord that you need help putting into practice?

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