Listening and Doing

Do you ever wonder why some people go to doctors or counselors?  They go because they need help, that is a no brainer, but if all they do is receive information and never act on it they might as well have stayed home.  It seems like many people go to doctors for help but they don’t take the medicine prescribed or the advice given.  The same thing happens with counselors, people do not heed their advice or implement what they have to say in their lives.  In most cases it takes a lot of money to go see a doctor or a counselor but many don’t seem to trust either so they spend their money and receive little benefit.

If we take this into the Christian realm, the same thing happens in many cases.  James addresses this issue in God’s Word in James 1:19-27, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

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 observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”

When we enter the freedom experience of being born-again through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to Him terminally ill stricken with a disease called sin, with all its side effects which include all the baggage we carried around.  At that point Jesus not only is our Savior but He is our physician, defender, counselor, healer, provider, sustainer, teacher and the guardian of our souls and much more.  We are set free from the slavery of sin and if we stay firm in the faith, not being moved from our position in the Lord, we will spend eternity with Him someday.

In the meantime, we have His love letter which is God’s Word, so we will know how to live a victorious Christian life.  In God’s Word there are many promises and instructions that we need to get into our hearts because if it is just head knowledge it will not change our lives.  Too many times we read or hear the Word but it stays in the head and we don’t apply it to our lives and we don’t grow in the faith as we should.  James was encouraging the 12 tribes that were scattered because of the persecution to put their faith into action and not to just be hearers only and I think this advice is for all believers also.  

I think the advice that Paul gave the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 7:1 is also very good advice for the church today, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

It is a shame that so many of us hear the Word but don’t allow it to change our lives by putting it into practice, hiding it in our hearts, putting ourselves in the same category as the man who looks in the mirror and turns away and forgets what he looks like.  I believe most of us are guilty of this at some point or other, but that is no excuse, we need to take responsibility for ourselves and live what we proclaim to be true in our lives.  It is important to be good listeners and focus on what others are saying to us so that we can be a blessing to them.  Sometimes we are guilty of talking too much, missing some important things that others are saying.  It is easy to get the wrong message if we are not listening intently and then we get angry at what we think we hear instead of what was really intended.  Much of our anger comes from misunderstandings and that does not please God.  If every believer lived the truth they heard, what a difference it would make in the world we live in.  Something to think about, have a blessed day and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord!!