22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Do you know how to be deceived? You don t need to sit under the teaching of false prophet or a false teacher and you don t need to study under the teachings of another religion. James, the brother of Jesus puts it quite simply here. All you need to do is hear the Word of God and not apply it to your life.
There are many people full of pride who grace our pulpits, there are many like me whose religion is useless who does not bridle his own tongue as James says in verse twenty six. On about four occasions in the past six months I have exploded in anger and three of the times with my pastor. That is why my pastor is my pastor and I am simply a man in healing.
There are so many verses in the Bible to obey.
Consider how people of the world would love us if we were truly righteous.
Proverbs 29:27 (New King James Version)
27 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.
To have many non Christians friends can say a number of things for us. I had trouble finding good Christian female friends and so I joined a dating site that offered friendships. I had two responses in about six emails I sent out that were positive and within two weeks I worked out that I didn t have anything in common with the girls and so we never met.
I justified myself with the fact that I could lead them to Christ, but then I would have myself in the position of spending time with a baby in the Lord and much of what I would want to say might have to be said another way, a simpler way.
What happens after a while is that you can be in the world, but not of the world. Sure I still like to go to the movies and I still have my favourite television shows that I watch, but I don t have much to talk about with people who are not Christians unless I am asking them questions about there work and family, hobbies and favourite movies.I am good for about half an hour and then we run out of things to say. Most times I am with the unsaved I am either eating with homeless people or witnessing to strangers.
Yet with a stranger that knows the Lord all we need is a Bible and we can speak for hours and hours.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
People seem to love mirrors. You can go into any gym, a place I don t frequent often, and you will find the walls filled with mirrors. That s because everyone like to look in the mirror as the sweat is pouring off them and look at how slim they are getting and how toned their muscles are.
So too you can look into the commands of Jesus and His apostles and continue in them will be blessed. Just like the mirror in the gym the athlete in the things of God when he looks at the laws in the Bible his heart will be blessed with progress. I have found I sin a whole lot less if I don t go out and meet people. I have to laugh, my mother said to me a few weeks ago, Churches would be so good if they just didn t have people in them.
The Law of God, the written Words of the Bible, the commands of God, are hard to follow. You cannot follow them in the flesh, and you cannot build yourself a high wall of self righteousness.
Proverbs 17:19 (New King James Version)
19 He who loves transgression loves strife,
And he who exalts his gate seeks destruction.
To believe is not just saying Jesus was the Son of God, even the demons confessed that to be a fact, to believe is to do and to follow the commands of the Bible and the commands ARE commands and grace does not mean we can be lazy. Grace has been given to us so that we might become holy. Grace is here to stop us sinning, not here for us to continue in our sin.
Titus 2:11 14 (New King James Version)
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
I have a question for you.
Are you zealous for good works?
Author Resource:
Matthew is a man that is in love with Jesus Christ. He shares the Word of God in a fresh way you might say and has a lot of new truths to share. He loves to open up his heart and life to illustrate his messages. Come and request your free prophecy at http://www.personal-prophecy-free.net
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