“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:19-25 ESV)
In verses 1-18 we learn that we are to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds, for the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and in order that we might reach full maturity in Christ Jesus, which will not come about until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity. And then we are taught that if we lack wisdom we should ask of God, but we must ask in faith, not doubting God, or else we are double-minded, unstable in all our ways, and we will receive nothing from the Lord.
And then we are taught a lesson on humility, and one about not thinking that it is God who tempts us when we are tempted to sin. And we are given a warning against being deceived and an encouragement that we serve the one and only true God, our creator God, who does not change like shifting shadows. He is who he is always. And he is absolutely pure and holy and would never be one to tempt us to sin. The devil will tempt us, though, and we will sometimes be tempted by our own evil desires.
So, we need to be those who are quick to listen to the Lord and to hear his teachings and to follow them in obedience. And we should be slow to respond with words that we might wish we had not said if we had put our brains before our mouths. And we should be slow to anger and not be hot heads who rage at everything that they don’t like to hear. For the anger of man (of the flesh) does not produce the righteousness of God. But there is such a thing as righteous indignation, which should lead us to godliness.
But as followers of Jesus Christ who have died with Christ to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him – no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness – we are to be those who are daily denying self and dying to sin and who are following our Lord in obedience. So we are to put out of our lives all moral filthiness and rampant wickedness, and we are to be taking into our minds and into our hearts the Word of God, which is able to save our souls.
So, what’s this saying to us who profess faith in Jesus Christ? We must be those who are daily (in practice, in lifestyle) dying to sin and to self and who are walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord in holy living. And we must receive (accept, adopt, apply) God’s Word to our daily lives, and the Word is not just the written word, the Bible, but it is the living Word, the Christ, now living within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. We are to be receiving and adopting and applying God’s Word to all parts of our lives.
And then what does it say? “Which is able to save your souls.” Now please pay close attention to those words and to the meaning behind them. For this passage continues by telling us that we must be doers of the word of God and not hearers only. We are not just to read or to listen to God’s Spirit and his Divine Word, but we are to do what he tells Christians they must do by faith in the Lord, in the power of God, in order to save our souls. For if we do not obey the Lord, in practice, but we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God. Salvation will not be ours to have.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
So, this isn’t just an encouragement to be more diligent about making sure that we read the Bible every day, but this is a strong urging and a warning to make certain that we are obeying what the Lord is teaching us through his word and by his Spirit. For if sin is what we obey, and not God, and not his teachings, then we don’t have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. So we must not be those who just listen but then walk away and forget what God said to us, which many do. We must be those who are doers of God’s words to us, who are his people by faith in Jesus Christ. We’ll be blessed!
Not Be Silent
An Original Work / December 3, 2012
Based off Psalm 30
O Lord my God, I’ll exalt You.
I called for help,
And You healed me.
O Lord my God,
You brought me from the grave.
You spared me from hell.
Sing to the Lord, you saints of His;
Praise His holy name today.
Weeping may remain for a night;
Joy at break of day.
Our debt He did pay!
O Lord my God, I said, “I will
Ne’er be shaken.” Secure, I felt.
O Lord my God, You forgave me.
Confident I stand in You.
When I could not see
Your face I was dismayed.
I called to You. O Lord,
You are my help.
You were merciful to me;
By Your grace set free!
O Lord my God, I’m so thankful for
Salvation through my Jesus.
You turned wailing into dancing;
Clothed me with Your joy today,
That my heart may sing
To You and not be silent.
Praise Your name.
O Lord my God,
I will give you
thanks forevermore.
My Lord, I adore!
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