Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
James is pulling no punches here. These are some sharp words, but that sharpness that he brings—it's a good thing for us to hear. It's actually a mercy.
Hearing Alone Is Not the Goal
What he's saying is that it's possible to hear God's Word. It's possible to even understand God's Word, to talk about God's Word, to appreciate God's Word, but not actually apply it to your life. You could do all those things and be deceived—maybe not even be in a right relationship with God—because hearing alone, that is not the goal.
God speaks to us that it might impact our life, that it might work itself out in our life, that we might apply the Word of God. This is a very needed warning, especially for those of you who might be listening who love biblical teaching.
A Good Thing—But Not Enough
It's a good thing to love biblical teaching. It's a good thing to listen to sermons or a biblical podcast, or read the Bible, of course, or read good books and discuss theology. But if we're just familiar with the Word of God, if we're merely familiar with truth without actually submitting to it and obeying it, then we are deceiving ourselves.
Doers of the Word are the Best Hearers
Thomas Watson said, "Doers of the Word are the best hearers of the Word." That is exactly the point that James is making here. The test of hearing—if you're really hearing the Word of God—is doing. Not doing it perfectly, not sinless perfection, but real, sincere obedience.
This is what the Word of God says. Now I want to live this out. Real repentance. Real turning. A real response.
Where Is the Gap?
This verse presses in on us in a very practical way, and we should all ask ourselves, where is the gap in my life? Where is the gap between what I know in God's Word and what I do?
Am I hearing God say, forgive? Yet I'm resentful and bitter and unwilling to let something go? Am I reading God's call for me to pray while I neglect Him and neglect His Word? Am I hearing God say, put this sin to death, fight this sin, flee the sin, but I'm actually just making peace with it in my life?
From Our Heads to Our Fingertips
James wants the Word to move from our heads to our hearts and out our fingertips. Right thinking should lead to right living. It is right belief that should lead to right behavior. All theology is so important, but all theology ultimately is practical theology.
Don't Settle for Just Hearing
Don't settle for just hearing the Word of God. Don't settle for just taking in information. Don't settle for just being informed. Ask God. Plead with God to make you responsive to His Word, to make you tender, honest, and obedient.
Because the goal here is not merely to know—or even admire—the Bible. It is to be changed by it.
