But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22 (CSB)

Imagine if someone bought a surf board, and although they had never surfed before, they still claimed to be a surfer. Or suppose someone bought a gourmet cookbook, but having never made anything more complicated than a grilled cheese sandwich, they told everyone that they were a gourmet chef. Obviously, simply labeling yourself as something, doesn’t make it true. You must be a doer of the thing you claim to be. 

God’s Word is powerful and active, but in order for it to change us, it has to be lived! We like to think we are doing well enough by soaking up His Word and His goodness like a sponge soaks up water. But it doesn’t do any good if it just stays there. It has to be wrung out in our daily lives, lived out and poured out into the lives of others. Obedience isn’t hearing what God has to say. Obedience is doing what God tells us to DO! Hearing and memorizing Scripture is great, but the purpose of knowing Scripture is so that it comes to mind and guides the way in which we live our lives! 

Jesus didn’t just sit around and study the Scriptures; He studied them, and He OBEYED them. When people see you, do they see Him? Are you just a hearer or a reader or a memorizer of God’s Word? If you want to truly experience the fullness of God, don’t pick and choose the commands that feel right, and obey the ones that don’t seem to require sacrifice and surrender. Living like Jesus means “doing” sacrificially and surrendering completely. You are called to be a DOER of the Word. So GO and DO! You are loved!

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 1 John 2:3

One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer