Reflections

James wrote a very practical and challenging letter to believers.  For an instance, James wrote in 1:22-24 this: “But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was.” We are told elsewhere to examine ourselves and Psalms tells us to ask God to examine our hearts. That means more than merely gazing at ourselves, rather we are to seek to know our hearts and recognize the nature of our behavior in light of the Gospel and the new life we live in Christ.  Now we all know that almost every person who hears a sermon or a Sunday School lesson has forgotten the most of it before the day is over.  We are merely listening, not looking to see how we might allow it to inform our behavior or lives.  Too many Christians read their Bibles as a routine, but never get the words into their hearts, that is never allow them to change them, their behavior or thinking.  James would call this merely listening.  It does no good and has little value.  We need to hide the Word in our hearts so the Spirit can recall it as we have need .  Then it can help us mature in our faith and walk in Christ.  People who get disappointed or angry at God for failing to meet a demand, often are the same people who have a very loose grasp of Scripture.  They work off of their own hopes and expectations rather than God’s truth.  They have a history of merely listening.  God’s Word is active, a two-edged sword, able to divide soul from spirit.  You have to pick up the sword if you want it to be useful.  Otherwise it remains a showpiece or a trophy, a relic, not a tool for perceiving truth in our hearts and minds.  Let’s change our attitude and action toward listening to the Word, the teaching we hear so we do not deceive ourselves further.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.