The Hearer & The Doer

The Hearer & The Doer     September, 2019

James 1: 22-24 says:  But be doers of the word (Bible), and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if one 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.”

I forget to be a “doer” when my prayer and Bible reading time with Jesus are neglected and I try to do something in my own strength.  I get lazy or too self-sufficient.  I have forgotten Ephesians 2:8,9 where I am saved by grace and it’s a free gift of God and not of works lest any man should boast.  Jesus reminds me to look in the mirror of His image and be filled with His Holy Spirit to be a truly effective “doer.”

Verse 25 of James 1 completes the focus on Jesus whose death and resurrection for my sins personally gives me that eternal hope of heaven.

“But the one who looks into the perfect law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

September is the time for school to begin.  May it be your time to begin anew to “do” His will and learn to lean on Him for everything.

~CMS