James 1:19-27
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
What does the Passage say?
V. 19-21 James starts with saying how important listening is. He claims that our feelings should cloud the opportunity to listen and change.
V. 22-25 Then he reveals on what we really need to listen to. It is to listen carefully to the word of our Lord. He says, “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” (v. 23-24 NIV)
V. 26-27 James then talks about how we need to put what we had listened to action. Our faith and the work of God’s transformation in our life has to be reflected in the world.
What does the Passage say to me/us?
Yesterday, in my class, we were talking about ‘What would be an attribute of a contagious Christian?’ ‘A person who listens well’ was ranked among many other answers.
When I saw this passage, I immediately thought that this validated the conversation I had in class. However, it wasn’t. James point was to remind us to listen carefully to the word of God. It can be the words we read from the Bible, or through the words proclaimed. He pointed out that, so often, our feelings can get in the way of us understanding God’s direction.
In the Bible I read, the header of this passage is titled “Listening and Doing.” I believe that this is an appropriate title. We can only do what we listened carefully.
Then I thought to myself, ‘there is still some connection to my previous conversation.’ A person who is prone to listen to God’s words will be prone to listen to others. Sometimes it might be humbly listening to the criticism. Other times, it might be attentively listening to the agony of the person, and hear God’s voice in the conversation. Meaning that we still need to listen well, even to others and hear God’s voice through them.
Prayer
Lord, help us to listen to your words better. Help us to see who we need to listen to, today. Help us to be transformed by your grace, and share that grace with others. In Christ name, AMEN
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