Doing the Word, Part 2 January 31, 2010
Drawing on James 1:22-25, last week’s column reminded us to approach the word expectingto change. But it can feel depressing and burdensome to look at our problemsall the time and add stuff to our spiritual “to do” list! Just in case that’show you feel, notice how James describes the Bible in verse 25: “the perfectlaw, the law of liberty.” Applying the Bible, rather than being restrictive andheavy, is actually the route to freedom and delight. When we ignore what theBible shows us about ourselves, we stay restricted and enslaved. But when weactively apply it, it liberates us! As Jesus put it in John 8:32: “You willknow the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Similarly, James writes in verse 21: “receive with meekness the implanted word, which isable to save your souls.” Here is the ultimate freedom offered to us in theword: the salvation of our soul! Apparently,we ignore the word to our eternal and most severe peril. In other words,if we form the habit of hearing the word without applying it, we just might not“save our soul”—we might prove that our Christianity was fake and end upmissing heaven altogether.
Butwe don’t just need to fear the warning. We can also desire the blessing: “Theone who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, beingno hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Sowhy should we do the word? Because God promises special blessing upon those whointentionally change when they hear the word.