DOER.

As I sat in my office at the end of the day, I began reading in the book of James.  Chapter 1 verse 22 is a verse I've known for awhile and have even studied.  But it is like we do with many things in our lives.  We learn them, know them, can recite them, but then after awhile, we forget.  Going through college, I can remember time and time again, studying & memorizing material for classes and tests.  The important stuff, the stuff I knew I would use throughout my life involving music (which was my major), I retained.  However, much of the material in classes I "had" to take, that did not apply directly to my major, I learned/memorized for the test, then it was gone!  Things that I deemed "important" or "significant", I remember to this day.  Things I found "pointless" or "insignificant", I forgot almost immediately.

When I comes to the Word of God, how dare I deem any of it less significant than any other!

2 Timothy 3:16 says,

"All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." (ESV)

Did you catch that?  ALL scripture is breathed out by God.  How many times do we treat the Bible as if it were a buffet?  All of it laid out before us to examine then choose what we want and pass over what we don't want.  To pick out what is desirable for us and leave that which disgusts us.  To cling to what comforts us, yet ignore that which convicts us.  

I do not want to treat the God-breathed scriptures the same way I did my college material.  As I study and learn the scriptures, I want it retain it all so much so that it defines the way I live.  Which brings me back to my reading today in the book of James.

"But be doers of the Word, and not hears only, deceiving yourselves."

James 1:22 (ESV)

It's interesting to me that the term "doers" is used rather than simply saying, "do what the Word says".  The implication here is that being identified as a doer means you're defined by what you are doing.  A teacher teaches.  A preacher preaches.  A writer writes.  A singer sings.  Therefore, being a doer of the Word, implies that obeying scriptures defines your lifestyle.  

What defines your life?  Many of us go to church and live the common "Christian" lifestyle, but throughout the week, don't touch our Bibles.  We leave them sitting in our spot on the church pew, or in the car, or on the table we set it on every Sunday when coming in from church.  

That same verse says that if your life is not being defined as being a doer of the Word, you're deceiving yourself.  By living the common "Christian" life, going to church, doing all the things your should be doing, and not doing the things you shouldn't be doing, you think you're in a right standing with God.  How can we have a relationship with God, if we're not spending time with Him?  We're deceiving ourselves!  

Just a few verses down, James defines the difference between a doer and being a hearer.  Hearers forget, while Doers act!  He compares a hearer to someone who looks intently at themselves in a mirror, then turns away and immediately forgets what they look like.  The picture here is that we use the Word of God as a mirror, reflecting our lives.  When we see things that shouldn't be there, or that need to change, we act.  A hearer simply reads these things, or hears a message preached, that should convict them and change the way they live, yet nothing changes.  John MacArthur says it like this in the study notes of his ESV Study Bible, 

"1:24 forgets what he was like.  Unless professing Christians act promptly after they hear the Word, they will forget the changes and improvements that their reflection showed them they need to make."

We're beginning a new year.  A new opportunity for you start over.  A new opportunity for me to start over. I want to be defined as a doer of the Word.  Too long, I've been a hearer.  I hear, I go, I know, I teach, I read, I lead.  I've deceived myself too long.  It's time to get right with God.  It's time to spend time with God. It's time to be a DOER.