Doers vs Hearers

While I was listening to Auntie Leona’s message from this Sunday, the two things that caught my ear were “We need to use what we’ve learned” and “Are we just listening to sermons and doing discipleship but not growing?”

I was reminded of James 1:22-25 – “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

We are so blessed to have the Bible and many gifted people to teach it to us, but if we don’t apply it, it’s just useless information. We can look at King Solomon as an illustration.

Solomon had knowledge and wisdom from God but failed to use it in his own life. He disobeyed God’s laws and married a LOT of women who turned him away from God to worship their own idols. Consequently, God was angry with him and took his kingdom away from his descendants. This did not occur because Solomon didn’t know any better, but because he didn’t use what he knew.

Auntie Leona neatly summed it up when she said, “It’s one thing to say ‘I learned things; I can answer more difficult theoretical Christian questions,’ [but] has my attitude or my actions changed?”

May we not be like Solomon, with all this unused head knowledge, and simply hear (and forget) what we learn from God. As difficult as it can be to apply God’s word to our lives, it’s worth it because that’s how we grow and mature in our relationship with Him, and He will reward us for our efforts.

“But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

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