Doers Not Hearers Only – James 1:22-27

It is so easy to be only a hearer.  I read the Scripture, but I don’t think about how to apply it.  I listen to a sermon, but it doesn’t change my life.  But just hearing makes me think I’ve done something important and deserving of award.  Such is the self-deception of our hearts.  If our lives do not change, it is of no use.

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.

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:22-27, ESV)

I regularly look in the mirror and see something needing correction and then, because it is out of my routine to do something about it, I forget and fail to correct it. Such behavior in the spiritual realm is deadly. To only hear God’s word and fail to obey it results in religious hypocrisy.

True religion leads to doing justice and righteousness, particularly to those who cannot secure justice for themselves, those who are helpless socially. It also leads to purity of heart and mind that impacts what we say and do. We don’t yield to the world’s corruption but overcome it.

Those then who do this kind of religion are those who find liberty in the law, for true law keeping brings true liberty and God’s blessing. There is freedom in doing God’s will. He made us to be most fulfilled when we are doing right. Our hearts long to be pure and undefiled. Pay attention to the mirror of the word.