James 1:22-25 (New international Version)
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James 1:22-25 (The Message)
22-24 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.
25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of their 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.
James 1:22-25 LISTENING MEETS DOING
Springford Baptist Church: September 19, 2021.
I was watching a news cast this week where someone was responding to the needs of people in her community. I saw that her T shirt had the words: “IN (name of the place where she lived) AS IN HEAVEN. For us that would be IN SPRINGFORD/ TILLSONBURG… (wherever we are) AS IN HEAVEN. What will that look like for us if we choose to have LISTENING MEET DOING?
I want us to consider two people who begin as complete strangers. One is named LISTENING and the other is named DOING.
LISTENING loves to learn and spends a great deal of time gaining knowledge. Every chance she gets, LISTENING is trying to understand what she hasn’t understood before. Her whole life has become a quest for knowledge. When something doesn’t make sense to her, she takes the time to research and to carefully figure out what is true and accurate. People marvel at how much LISTENING has a grasp on things and are even inclined to consult LISTENING on matters that they are trying to figure out. LISTENING places a high value on taking time to hear and to know. She always recommends that people do what she does which is to listen intently.
Then there is DOING. From the time DOING gets up in the morning, he is on the run. His whole day is spent carrying out various tasks. He has long lists of all that he hopes to accomplish. He seems to have boundless energy and when one thing is finished, he is looking for the next project to take on. Other people are inclined to feel tired just watching all that DOING is doing.
When these 2 strangers LISTENING and DOING meet, that is when life unfolds as God intends. This is where God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven” begins to happen.
When we have listened and learned something, then the expectation is that it will affect our whole way of living. Listening and doing must come together!
This is certainly true in our lives as Christians, those who have chosen to follow Jesus.
If all we do is listen to God’s Word to us, then as James 1:22 points out, we deceive ourselves. We then have tried to convince ourselves that having more and more knowledge of God and His ways is the goal, when the ultimate goal is for our listening for the will of God to result in doing the will of God.
James 1:23,24 continues, 23 Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
So, I look in the mirror and see that I have a large stain on my shirt or that there is a rip in my sleeve. If any one of us looks in the mirror and sees something that needs to change, but does nothing about it, what good is that?
If our listening to God’s Word convicts us, then we must do something about it. This is where LISTENING MEETS DOING.
The Message Translation of James 1:24 highlights, “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.”
Here we recognize that God’s Word reveals more to us than what we look like and adjustments that need to be made. God’s Word, if we are willing to listen, shows us who we are and the adjustments that need to be made for us to become more of who God has designed us to be. LISTENING MEETS DOING.
When we have listened and learned who we are and how we are, we become aware of how God wants to use us to impact the world around us. This is possible for any of us if we allow God to show us how He wants us to take what we have heard and learned and to do something with it.
James 1:26,27 reveals what can happen when LISTENING MEETS DOING: 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
The world around us is complicated isn’t it? We find ourselves keenly aware of needing to LISTEN intently for God and then to DO what He leads us to do. This will express God’s love and saving power as we crave to keep on LISTENING and to keep on DOING. It will not be easy, but unless LISTENING MEETS DOING, we as God’s family are not living out God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.