James 1:22

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

Listening to God’s word is clearly a very good thing to do. But it isn’t enough. Anyone can listen to the Bible, a sermon or a Christian podcast. But the mere process of listening doesn’t change anything. What matters is that our listening then affects the way in which we live.

My college principal once said that studying the Bible without asking the question: “Lord, what do you want to me to do?” was a blasphemy. That’s strong language, but he was trying to explain that, if we are not looking to turn God’s word into action, then we are taking God’s name too lightly.

I’m really grateful that when I was asked to write these daily devotionals, I was asked to provide a reflective question at the end. It’s often very demanding to compose that question but I am so grateful for that discipline. There really is no point in us looking at the Bible unless we are asking deep questions about the way in which it is going to affect our lives. I don’t apologise for this, but I am conscious that my questions are sometimes painful and difficult to answer. This means we need to spend time with the Lord working out the implications of his teaching.

James was concerned that his readers shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking that they were followers of Jesus if they weren’t. It’s perfectly possible for people to be a part of a church community, and involved in all its activities, without having committed their lives to Christ. To paraphrase James, he was saying: “Look hard at yourself and make sure that you aren’t merely going along with the crowd but applying Christian teaching to every aspect of your life.” Jesus made exactly the same point when he said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Not everyone who calls out to me, “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). Nothing can take the place of knowing Jesus personally and living in obedience to him.

QUESTION

What do you do to make sure you turn God’s word into action in your own life?

PRAYER

Loving God, thank you that your word always brings life. Help me to apply it deeply to every part of mine. Amen