Practice What is Preached
James 1:22 NIV
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
I simply love the book of James, as it tends to compliment the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. James gives us his take on how we as Christians can thrive in times of trial and provides us with wise words to live by that he gained through watching his brother, Jesus, minister to the people. Here, James gets right to the point. Do not simply listen to the word but apply it to your everyday lives. When we get up Sunday mornings and go to church, or even if you quite simply get on here and listen to our audio sermons or podcasts, we must evaluate why we're going. Are we going/listening to learn and apply these principles to our own lives? Or are we going/listening to just say we did-or even put on a show for others? For example, it's kind of like going to nursing school. If your motives aren't in the right place, and you're not practicing what you are taught, you might very well fail out. Or even worse, you might pass and seriously hurt someone in the field because you're not practicing what you were taught.
Listening to the word goes far beyond the sermon. Reading the word goes far beyond the scripture. It's retaining the word that we must ensure that we're doing before we can even think about applying it. But when you're listening, reading, and then retaining the word, we can then practice it in our everyday lives. The word is our handbook. It is God's truth in its entirety. If we don't know what it says, then we quite possibly could fall victim to sin-or worse, death. And, might I remind you that we're not doing this for no reason, either. If we read on down to V. 25, James further tells us that whoever knows the word and lives it out in their lives, will be blessed in what they do. How encouraging. And as Christians, we should be eager to apply the word to our lives upon learning it. Isn't that the whole point of being a Christian?
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