DO WHAT IT SAYS

DO WHAT IT SAYS
James 1:19-27
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (v.22)

IN V.22 IS THE KEY TO THE WHOLE epistle of James. "Do what it says," he exhorts his readers. But before we can do what the Word of God says, we must know what it is saying. We must listen.

Poor listeners are usually boisterous talkers, and vice versa. So we are called to be "quick to listen, slow to speak" (v.19). Alas, we often do the opposite. While the other person is speaking, we are too busy formulating our reply to listen! I once counselled a couple who had a quarrel. I asked the wife to present her side of the story. As she spoke, I sensed that the husband was impatiently waiting to say his piece. When she finished, I turned to him and said, "Now, tell me what your wife just said." He was caught. He had not heard anything, for he was too occupied preparing what to say!

Before we can take in God's Word, we must also take off "all moral filth" (v.21). God will not speak to us if we are not ready to change. To be willing to obey is to be ready to hear, for to hear is to obey. Sometimes we ask God for light when we ourselves are not willing to open our eyes to see. Light without sight is useless. Let us humbly open our ears and our eyes to the Word of God.

But hearing is not enough. Knowing is not enough. We must do it. James' readers have the theory; what they lack is the practice. He gives a helpful illustration. A man looks at himself in a mirror and sees something wrong with his face. Does he not do something about it? Or does he go away satisfied, thinking the knowledge that something is wrong is good enough to correct the fault? Of course not. But many of us deceive ourselves into thinking that knowing that something is wrong will automatically right that wrong without us doing anything about it.

To correct such false thinking, James ends with a definition of our faith in down-to-earth, practical terms (vv.26-27). Our faith has to do with how we speak, how we show our love for the needy, and how we mark ourselves out to be distinct from the world. This first chapter of the epistle is like the "Contents" page of a book. In it, James spells out his agenda, and sets out to develop each theme more fully, e.g. vv.9-11 in 2.1-7 (the rich and the poor), v.22 in 2.14-26 (faith and works), v.26 in 3.1-12 (the tongue). In every sphere, as God's Word instructs us, the compelling keynote is: "Do what it says!"

Am I putting theory to practice?