Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22 NIV
Doers of the Word
We Canadians work harder than almost every other country in the world. Thanks to cell phones and cottages wired for the Internet, we check voice mail and email from the beach and snatch holidays on the run. We’re so dedicated, Forbes magazine recently ranked us as the fourth-hardest-working country in the developed world. The only countries that out-work us are Iceland, New Zealand, and Denmark. In fact, some say, it’s starting to look like Canadians may be working too hard.
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Being a Christian is more than just making a one-time decision to follow Jesus, as important as that is. Jesus did tell Nicodemus that he needed to be born again, transformed by God’s grace, brought from death to life, from darkness to light. But this is only the beginning. In Jesus’ day, and today in Orthodox Jewish life, a follower of a rabbi took on the look of that rabbi – dressing like, walking like, living like that rabbi. The Bible is very clear that if we are truly a follower of Jesus, we will more and more look like Jesus in the way we live our lives. James 1:22 says this: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” As we spend time in God’s Word, we learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We read what He teaches, how He lived His life and related to others. We are called to not just read about it, but to live it out daily. Others ought to be able to look at my life and see what Jesus is like. Do they?
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley