Bridging the Gap of Disconnect

I can listen intently, take thorough notes, and have maximum motivation for implementing truth into daily life. My challenge is acting. I’m sure you’ve read about me in the book of James. I’m the person who listens well, stores up knowledge, but when the time comes to use it, I casually, yet often deliberately chose to forget it. I’ve been known on occasion to even run the other way.

I’m challenged by the following verses: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in all his doing.” (James 1:22-25)

Do you find it slightly astonishing, perhaps even appalling that we choose to walk away from being blessed in all we do? The passage clearly states that the one who looks at the law and perseveres --who acts-- will be blessed in all he does. So, what is it that causes me to retreat when I’ve received such specific marching orders? Am I lazy? Careless? Clearly, I am a sinner. How I need to be more attentive, more diligent in allowing Scripture to penetrate the depths of my heart and mind.

Consider James 1:19-20: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” I shout an “Amen” in my head when I read this. Yet shortly after, I find myself doing exactly the opposite. I find myself voicing and acting on my annoyances and irritations rather than displaying patience and love. I choose to look at offenses and hold people to them rather than overlooking them. (1 Peter 4:8) How can I believe something so strongly and yet live so contrary?

I believe it starts here: God is holy and I am a desperate, needy sinner. Only He can do this work in me, and only His behavior and His heart are worth emulating. Only His law is worth writing on my heart. And sometimes it’s a good idea to write it on all the walls of my house – to post it everywhere, lest my feeble mind forget it. My heart is deceitful above all else and cannot be easily trusted. I need to be constantly in His Word, training myself in truth, storing it up not just to know but to also use it. There must be application through the strength I receive by His Spirit.

I want His Word to be the morsel I long for and acquire. I want Him to be the refuge I run to not only when I’m needy, but also when I’m angry, when I’m disobedient, when I need forgiveness, when I need humility, etc. I want to spend more time in His Word and more time acting on it.

Proverbs 3:3-8 states, “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

Refrain from anger and practice kindness. This type of love does not come from being wise in my own eyes; it comes from being wise in Him. I can acknowledge Him in how I display kindness to others and in daily circumstances. And how amazing to think that through this, I can receive healing in my bones, straightness to my path, and refreshment amidst a sin-sick world. I resonate with this.

I want to live faithfully. I don’t want to see a hypocrite or a liar when I see the reflection of my own heart. And, I know that only His Spirit and His Word can change me. This takes discipline and diligence. I cannot afford to be lazy. I can’t be so foolish so as to not care or not make it a priority. His Word is not motionless; it is living and active. I don’t want to be at a standstill; I want to see His Word living and active through me.

Titus 2:11 states, “For the grace of God has appeared, brining salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.”

Let’s not sit at a standstill – let’s allow His Spirit and Word to transform us.