"Be doers of the word and not hearers only"

James 1:22-25:

"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 observing his natural face in a mirror;

for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

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."

What does it mean to “deceive yourselves?”  Think of someone observing his natural face in the mirror. Have you ever noticed something on your face when you look at the mirror - maybe something in your teeth, or maybe your hair is not properly combed, or maybe you have something around your eyes, such as a speck of dust?  What do you do in that case? Do you deal with it right away or do you say to yourself, "Oh, I’m going to deal with that sometime later?"

What does it mean to be a “forgetful hearer?”

A doer of the word is expected to do something - to keep the commandments of the word.

James is, of course, talking about the Word of God.  Jesus Himself had expressed the same thought in Matthew 7:21 and 24. The emphasis is to act upon the knowledge and the power of the word. But how do we do this doing?

The first step is to get to know the Word.

When Apostle Paul was teaching the Bereans they were more noble than the ones in

Thessalonica, because in Acts 17:11-12 we read:

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness,and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

So the searching or the studying of the Scriptures produced belief in these people; it helped them to be doers of the Word. As we know from Romans 10:17:  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The second step is to start doing what the Word says.

The Lord’s commands are not difficult. In Matthew 11:28-30, we read:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for

your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Jesus also commanded us in John 14:15: If you love me, keep my commandments.

How do we keep Jesus’ commandments?  Where do we start?  We start with those things that we do understand - those that are easier to discern and then we move to the hardest things. As Peter says in 1 Peter 2:2: Desire the spiritual milk...

There are some truths in the Bible that are easier to understand. What are some of

those? For example, Jesus is Lord and God (John 20:28).  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind." (Matthew 22:37).

We need to have a system in place for reading/studying the Word and for doing what

the Word says. In the same way that we have set a time aside in our day for other

activities (eating breakfast, taking the bus or driving to school or work, watching TV or

entertaining ourselves), we also need to set aside a time for studying the Scriptures and

for doing them into our life.

Acts 20:32: So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is

able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

The Word of God is able to build us up – what does this mean?  Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalms 119:11: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

We need to learn and study the Word, so that we can be doers of the Word and not

hearers only.