Live the Truth!

“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25

Doing is the natural outcome of hearing. One without the other causes an imbalance - even corruption - in one’s life. Oswald Chambers puts it this way:

“A sentimentalist is one who delights to have high and devout emotions stirred whilst reading in an armchair or when in a prayer meeting, but he never translates his emotions into action. Consequently, a sentimentalist is usually callous, self-centered, and selfish because the emotions he likes to have stirred do not cost him anything; and when he comes across the same things in the domain where things are real and not sentimental, the revenge comes along the line of selfishness and meanness, which is always the aftermath of an unfulfilled emotion.”

So the question raised is: Am I going to be an effective doer and actively implement the truths I’ve heard and understood? Or am I going to be a frustrated sentimentalist who safely agrees with truth but who lacks the courage to live the truth? These are two choices from which we can select.

To know God’s will is life’s greatest treasure. To do God’s will is life’s greatest pleasure.