“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 who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” James. 1:22-24.
Not knowing what exactly the scriptures say concerning certain situations puts you at risk. For instance, the scripture says when a believer is faced with trial, he is to rejoice in it. When he is faced with temptation, he is to resist it. And we can resist temptation best by being alert and stifling opportunities to sin. We must guard against playing with fire to see if we’ll get burned. It is inconsistent to invite temptation and to pray against it at the same time. We must refuse to let our steps take us into wrong places; we must refuse to let our eyes linger on forbidden things. We must stifle opportunities to sin—rather than nourish them.
The scriptures also admonished that the believer should be “…..swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath….” swift to hear, surely means that we would all do well to listen more and to talk less! Slow to speak reminds us never to speak without thinking. God has given us two ears and only one tongue; thus, even physically, He implies that we ought to listen more and talk less. The phrase “slow to wrath” should remind us that even when discussing the Scriptures, we must be careful not to let tempers rise higher and higher, until mean and hard things are said to fellow Christians from us.
If we just hear and don’t practise, we are not fooling God. We are deceiving ourselves. To listen to the Word, and then to do nothing about it, can be downright harmful. We can become more hardened and fixed in our ways, or we can become humbled and softened because we receive the Word with a penitent spirit. Naaman heard about how he could be cleansed, but it was not until he went and dipped seven times in the Jordan that he was benefitted (2 Kings 5:13-14). When our Lord comes in judgment, obedience to Him will have been the important thing.
FURTHER READING:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21.
“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” 1 Jn. 3:7.
DECLARATION:
Dear Abba Father, thank You for Your daily mercy and grace granted me for life and destiny. Lord, I ask today that Your hand of supernatural approval be placed upon my efforts and labour. Let my life attract unusual blessings and increase silence every voice of accusation and evil concerning my life in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN:
Luke. 22:1-71. Luke. 23:1-56. Luke. 24:1-53.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY:
“The Only Proof That You Truly Know Is That You Actually Obeyed.”
The Fortress Int’l Church, 2 Floor 10 Coker Road, Opposite Chicken Republic Ilupeju Lagos, Nigeria. http://www.thefortresschurch.com. Email:info@thefortresschurch.com.
