Be doers of the Word!

James 1:22 (NLT) “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” A few years back I tore the MCL in my right knee. After surgery, for several weeks I had physical therapy in the office and then more assigned as “homework”. I was faithful to the homework and worked hard at getting my knee back in shape. When I went back for a checkup they were amazed at how much progress I had made. I assured them that I had been faithful to do the exercises.  The reason they were surprised is that everyone receives the instructions but, apparently, few actually follow thru. You don’t get stronger and healthier by reading the instructions. You only get stronger by DOING THEM! It’s the same in our walk of faith. Look again at what our verse today says. “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must DO what it says.” Reading about prayer is not the same as praying. Memorizing verses of scripture isn’t the same as putting them into practice. Knowing all the stories of faith in the Bible won’t help you a bit if you don’t actually put faith into practice! God loves us so much that He, too, has given us a wonderful book of exercises that we can do that will help us grow healthy in our faith. These exercises strengthen our hearts, build character into our souls, and give witness to His work within us. Exercises like forgiving, serving, loving, and encouraging. Practices like praying, confessing, interceding, surrendering, and repenting. These things are things we all know we SHOULD do, but few of us are actually doing with any regularity. This might explain why many of us are limping with God rather than walking with Him. Don’t just listen. DO!