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Accepting the Word of God … our responsibility, in light of God’s goodness, faithfulness, mercy, and grace, we must be willing to listen to God’s Word and spend less time arguing, complaining, debating, and resisting. James challenged his believers to listen eagerly and to speak slowly, and so it should be with us also. The responsibility to hear and accept the teaching of God’s Word falls upon everyone who has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior of their life. James challenged the believers to hear the instruction of God’s Word and to receive it with an attitude of meekness, letting it affect their attitudes and behavior and respond to it properly. Someone has observed that God has given us two ears and only one mouth, which may suggest He intended that we should listen twice as much as we talk. To spend twice the time in the word as we spend in relating our woes to Him in prayer is to adjust our perspective and align our will to His will. The result will be a spirit of sweet fellowship rather than bitterness or anger. James taught that an angry spirit does not produce a righteous life, but instead allowing anger to persist in our lives poisons the soul and stops the ears from hearing, and essentially, it prevents learning and produces carnality and immaturity. The evidence of truly listening, as opposed to merely hearing, is the change in one’s attitude and behavior. As believers in Christ, we must obey and observe the commands given to us in verses 19-21, which are:
(1) Be quick to listen
(2) Be slow to talk
(3) Be slow to anger
(4) Rid oneself of everything bad (as a dirty garment is discarded)
(5) Receive the Word of God
A child was told by his mother, “Go look in the mirror and wash your face.” He insisted, “I already have!” However, she replied, “You’re only kidding yourself!” His dirty face proved to her that if he really had looked in the mirror, he ignored what it revealed. He may have seen the truth about himself, but he didn’t act on it. The apostle James taught that anyone who hears God’s Word but does not obey it is kidding himself. He is like someone who looks at himself in a mirror but goes his way unchanged. He hears and reads God’s Word, but then dismisses it, not letting the Scriptures change him. The person who looks into the mirror of God’s word, however, longing to be transformed by it, “is not a forgetful hearer.” He wants the Word to reveal his true needs and show him truths to obey. As he obeys, he progressively becomes more like Jesus. James said that kind of person would be blessed in what he does. If we honestly want to become more like Christ in our attitudes, actions and reactions, we must look into God’s mirror, the bible, regularly. However, let’s not kid ourselves, just looking is not enough. God’s Word will transform us, but only if we obey it. There is a bit of this tendency in all of us. God has told us what He expects from us, yet we so often fail to do it. Many believers are little more than harmless citizens in the world, for they are hearers only. Others are compelling witnesses, for they are both hearers and doers. We must not just learn what God says we must also live it. James tells us if we are doers, we will be blessed in what we do (v. 1:25), and that is a good reason to be a doer of the Word and not merely a hearer.
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Assimilating God’s Word … the technology age in which we live gives us unlimited access to Biblical information as never before. Even the Internet is no stranger to Biblical content, comments, and web sites concerning spiritual matters on numerous subjects. Yet, the biggest danger in our society is a common human trait; we have so much knowledge, but so little effect or result. Sensitivity to the Scripture and a submission to its teaching will transform an individual. James wanted very much for his readers to know that the believers must make their meeting with the Scripture a regular habit. He further described to his readers in verses 23-25, that one’s encounter with God’s Word is not a one-time affair, but a continual daily progress. As believers in Christ we must be:
(1) Persistent in our Study … to merely read or listen to the Scripture and avoid personal application is to deceive oneself about having fulfilled one’s responsibility. The study of the Scripture is the privilege and responsibility of each believer. Digesting the Word of God also demands discipline and hard work on the part of each believer. As we read, study, memorize and meditate daily on God’s Word, each of us will be better equipped to live the life God wants us to live.
(2) Consistent in our Practice … the term translated look is used in the Gospels to describe the action of the apostles when they came to the empty tomb. They didn’t simply cast a glance and go away. They came close, stooped down, and studied the evidence that Jesus was gone. The truth of His resurrection was not only the rolled-back stone, but also the absence of the body and the condition of the grave clothes. Every believer is to have a similar curiosity that drives him or her to a careful and complete examination of God’s Word and ask ourselves:
What does it say?
What does it mean?
How does it relate to my life?
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As believers and followers of Christ, we must have a sensitive and submissive attitude, a persistent and consistent study of God’s Word and we must apply and put His Word into action. The first Chapter of James’ letter is devoted exclusively to personal preparation and readiness. The genuineness of one’s faith will not be proven by one’s speech, however, articulate and believable as one might be. The reality of one’s faith is evidenced in the action it produces in obedience to His Word as we allow it to work in our lives. I will close with the following illustration entitled “The Resister” … I don’t have to listen to you is a sentence parents don’t like to hear from their teenage children! It means they have decided not to obey their parents. Usually, it’s spoken in anger and soon forgotten. Sometimes, though, a teen might decide to make that attitude a way of life. When that happens, it’s hard for everyone in the family. A child’s refusal to obey authority creates ongoing turmoil in the home and saps the joy from life. The teenager openly rebels, thinking he would be happier by resisting authority. Instead, he can actually become miserable in his heart.
The prophet Isaiah also told about some resisters, rebellious, lying people who refused to listen to what God was saying in Isaiah 30:9. In effect, they said to Him, “We have heard enough. We don’t have to listen to you! Their heart of resistance turned them against God’s truth. Rebellion is not limited to teens or to the people of Isaiah’s day. Sometimes we too wear the resister label. We read God’s Word and decide it’s too restrictive or we sense God wants us to do something that we don’t want to do, and we run from it (as Jonah did). This action only leads to misery, but if we obey God’s Word, we will enjoy His peace and joy within our hearts.
