But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in the mirror.

For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works-this person will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:22-25  HCSB

Have you ever tried to speak with someone about something that you considered important and you feel as though they are just not listening.  It is like they are hearing you, but not really listening.  You feel as though your words are just going over the top of their head and what you are saying is not really getting in there.  My personal favorite is the person that comes to you for advice and then does the opposite of what you suggest, can you relate? When we speak to someone like this, there is an expression that says, “you can talk till you are blue in the face” and they still don’t listen to what you have to say.

Some people read the bible and can even quote scripture to you.  But when you observe how they live their lives, it appears as though they have not absorbed, or perhaps they did not comprehend, what they read.  They are not living out what they have read.  We can read the word until we pass out, but if we don’t do what it tells us to do, we have only wasted our time.

If you read our scripture passage, it tells us that if we are only hearers of the word and don’t do the word we deceive ourselves.  There was a time in my life when I was attending church on a regular basis.  I was studying my bible and attending Sunday School class, but I was not doing what God’s word instructed me to do.  I was unwilling to let go of the sin in my life.  I was deceiving myself.  The NASB version says don’t delude yourself.  I can honestly say that I was delusional.  I thought that God would just overlook my sin because I was so special.  I was special, alright, but not in a good way.  I had believed the devil’s lies and allowed him to convince me that I could get away with my sin.  Oh wait, isn’t this exactly how he snookered Eve in Genesis 3? Didn’t he say, in verse 4, that she surely would not die if she ate of this fruit?  Hmm, I had been fooled.  It’s easy for us to sit back and do the whole Monday morning quarterback thing with Adam and Eve, but we don’t do any better than they did. Now they had God walking in the garden with them and as soon as they were left on their own, in the blink of an eye, they were deceived.  God spoke with them and told them what to do and what not to do and still they were deceived.  We have God’s word written out for us, a perfect manual of instruction, and we allow ourselves to be deceived as well.

Our scripture passage says that when we hear the word and don’t do it we deceive ourselves and we are like a man who looks in the mirror.  A man who looks in the mirror carelessly  forgets what he sees.  He forgets what kind of person he is.  But the man who earnestly looks into God’s word and acts upon what he sees there will be blessed.

The bible is not just some light reading.  It’s not some fictional work to help us pass the time.  It is God’s word.  2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

I have tried to assemble things before without looking at the manual and made a mess of the project.  I have done the same with my life.  I have learned to carefully read the manual.  I have also learned that reading the manual without following the instructions is a waste of time.  God gave us his word for a reason.  He gave it as an instruction manual for our lives.  Pay careful attention to God’s word.  Read it and carefully follow the instructions.  You will be amazed at the difference it makes in your life.  I know I was.

Have a great day!