Be A "DOER"

Our week-day Bible study group is studying Beth Moore’s Children of the Day, a study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians.  This past week a line from that Bible study really hit home with me and I want to ponder it with you:  Scripture isn’t meant to stay thumb-tacked to a delicate page.

I do believe Beth and James are on the same page.

James 1:22 (NLT)  But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

A lot of us women are diligent about staying in God’s Word…we attend church and Sunday Bible study regularly; we go to a week-day Bible study with a dedicated group of women who love the Lord and His Word; daily we have a “Quiet Time” with God and His Word; and there is more….books, on-line devotions…. our opportunities to study God’s Word are numerous.

But the truth is that simply reading, even studying God’s Word doesn’t deepen our walk with the Lord unless we DO WHAT IT SAYS!  We have to take His Word off of the pages of His book and live those truths out in our every day world.  We study and learn God’s Word…not just for knowledge but for application.   Our Bible knowledge can only make a difference in our lives and in the lives of those we touch if we are obedient and put what we learn into action.  Passive knowledge of God’s Word is wrong.

Romans 2:13 (NLT)  For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

This is not something new for us…we know this…but we can get so busy studying God’s Word that we do not have time to “do” God’s Word!  I hear a warning from the pens of James and Paul… our knowledge must be completed through our actions. We cannot settle for just knowing God’s Word or even wanting to obey it. It is actual obedience that makes us “Doers”.  It is in the doing that we know God better and better and love Him more and more.

My prayer is that we will not just audit our studies of God’s Word but that we will actually take our knowledge and apply it out in the “real” world we live in daily! 

I am including a great illustration from Chuck Swindoll… I’m sorry that this makes for a LONG devotion….but it does teach us something really important about authentic Christianity.

 

Chuck Swindoll gives us a good illustration of this, in his book, Improving Your Serve:

"To make the value of obedience just a practical as possible, let’s play ’Let’s Pretend.’ Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly. I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas. To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until a new branch office gets established. I make all the arrangements to take my family and move to Europe for six to eight months. And I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization. I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you directions and instructions. I leave and you stay. Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations. Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival, I drive down to the office and I am stunned. Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk into the Receptionist’s room. She is doing her nails, chewing gum and listening to her favorite disco station. I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing. The carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned. I asked about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, "I think he’s down there."

Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager. I ask you to step into my office, which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas. "What in the world is going on, man?" "What do you mean, Chuck?" "Well, look at this place!

Didn’t you get any of my letters?" "Letters? Oh yes! Sure! I got every one of them. As a matter of fact, Chuck, we have had a letter study every Friday night since you left. We have even divided the personnel into small groups to discuss many of the things you wrote. Some of the things were really interesting. You will be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two - Great stuff in those letters." "OK. You got my letters. You studied them and meditated on them; discussed and even memorized them. But what did you do about them?" "Do? We didn’t do anything about them."

Let’s listen in order that we can do!

Joyfully,

Yvonne