“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” – James 1:22
God’s Word, the Bible, is truth that demands action. Always. At all times, God expects a response of faithful obedience to what He’s written us. It isn’t enough for us to like the Bible. It isn’t enough to know a lot about the Bible. It isn’t enough to attend many Bible studies. It isn’t enough to memorize large portions of the Bible. We must also act on what the Bible says.
The commands of Christ are meant to be obeyed, not merely admired. What if we’re merely collectors of Bible studies instead? What if we hear and study the Bible without actually doing what it says? James is clear – we deceive ourselves…
What do we deceive ourselves about? Our salvation. If we aren’t acting on the commands of Jesus then He isn’t actually our Lord and if He isn’t our Lord we probably aren’t actually saved from our sins. We also deceive ourselves about holiness. It isn’t enough to study holiness – God commands His people to be holy because He’s holy. We deceive ourselves about ourselves. We imagine we’re particularly righteous when we aren’t. We convince ourselves we’re following Jesus when we’re really just sitting on our spiritual sofa watching Him on Netflix.
Don’t just hear what God said in the Bible. Do what He said!