James 1:22

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

I need to be honest with you – it is far too easy for me to be strictly academic about my faith. It is too easy for me to peruse the scriptures only to increase my knowledge therein, and not to improve my life thereby.

I think, sadly, there are many Christians who so consistently study the word, and God’s character through their Bible study, that they convince both others and themselves that they’re actually quite devoted.

They have lots of words, they have lots of quick references for counseling and correction, they’ve taken lots of classes, they’ve heard or given lots of sermons. No doubt they ENJOY reading God’s word. In fact, they mostly likely translate this enjoyment as praise for God – as they take a great deal of pleasure in learning about the complex details of the Bible, they fancy this attitude of pleasure and intrigue as worshipful.

… but are they doers?

Note this: If you read only to read; if you study only to increase knowledge; if you are instructed in the ways to walk but do not walk, then you are nothing more than “deceived.”

Look at the verse, James 1:22. Those who merely listen, are “deceived.” The Best pastors among us, who uncover the intricacies of the Bible, who even expound upon its practical applications, might actually be men who, though they speak a great deal of truth, are themselves utterly deceived if they do not DO.

Science textbooks are written to be studied, philosophers write to be studied, some novelists hope their works will be analyzed– but God did not present His Word to the world only that it might be studied. No, God’s agenda is that the listener be changed.

Am I discouraging you from studying? Not at all. I don’t think there is enough studying, but sadly there is even less DOING. We should not read the Word only to learn it, we should read it seeking how we might be changed by it. So, it would not at all be inappropriate to begin our Bible studies with this request, “God, I want to change today, I want to live as you want me to live, and become what you’ve called me to be, so show me in this passage today not merely what I must know, but also what I must do.

The thing that challenges me most is the fact that I listen far more than I do. I love my studies, I love the books, I love uncovering the new scriptures I did not previously know, and all of this I always mistook as devotion to God. Little did I know that my increases of knowledge may have been nothing more than mere deception if I didn’t do.