Daily Dose of the Word of God - James 1: 22-25

Rebekah Wilson, Alpha Team

Transcript

Rebekah Wilson  0:06 

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s daily dose of the Word of God. Today is Thursday, August 31st and this is Rebekah Wilson. This week we will mind the Gap between what we know and what we do with what we know. I’ll be reading James chapter 1 verses 22-25 from the Message.

Rebekah Wilson  0:26 

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God- the free life!- even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.” 

Rebekah Wilson  1:06 

I’ve been married to Jonathan for 18 years and let’s say that all through our years of dating and marriage, I wrote down everything that he said and all the things that he liked. I could tell you all about him to the point where you would know a lot about him without having met him. But let’s say that despite knowing so much about Jonathan, I chose not to do anything that he said. Maybe it was planning a night out at the opera or buying him clothes that I knew he didn’t like. Maybe it was making his food in ways that I knew he didn’t like or purposefully spending our money in ways that I knew he had asked me not to do. What kind of marriage would you say that we had? I’m sure you’d tell me that if I didn’t start doing the kinds of things that he liked or failing to follow his requests, we wouldn’t be married much longer! So why is our relationship with the Lord any different?

Rebekah Wilson  2:03 

What if I could tell you about all the commands in the Bible (to love my neighbor, forgive those who had wronged me, seek first the Kingdom of God), but I never did a single one of them. What kind of relationship would that be? Would my claim that I loved the Lord so much have any grounds of being true? James is helping us see that our faith and love for the Lord amounts to a hill of beans without consciously acting on his commands. The best part is, though, that when we surrender and submit to the Lord, he helps us to live rightly and follow his commands. What a wonderful Savior!

Rebekah Wilson  2:45  

Lord, We thank you for your perfect righteousness that you’ve given all who follow you. Please help us to not only be hearers of your word, but to be doers! Give us feet that are fitted with shoes of your peace. Give us “go shoes” that go out into this world, obey your commands, and live freely in you, Amen.