Sunday
Sunday
Responding to the Word of God
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22
On first reading the first chapter of James’s letter, one is immediately struck by its threefold warning against deception (vv. 16, 22, 26). James’s antidote to deception is the Word of God or “word of truth” (v. 18), namely the revelation that God has given us in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ. It is by paying attention to God’s Word that we will avoid the tragedy of being deceived. Our response to the Word needs to be in two stages.
Stage 1: an attentive hearing of God’s Word. “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak” (v. 19). Our natural tendency in every situation is to make premature responses. We rush in with our opinion, forgetting that “the mouth of the fool gushes folly” (Prov. 15:2). Often the last thing we do (which should be the first) is to hold our tongue and listen. Here is a general principle of wide application. It is better to listen than to speak. Respectful listening is a major secret of all harmonious relationships. But it is especially true of our relationship with God. For he has spoken and calls us to listen to his voice. Yet sometimes we hear from Scripture only what we want to hear—the soothing echoes of our own cultural prejudice—and then we miss the thunderclap of his Word as he challenges us to listen.
Stage 2: an obedient doing of God’s Word. James’s use of the mirror metaphor is especially telling (vv. 22–23). For a mirror gives us a double message. It tells us both what we are and therefore what we should be. The mirror says, “You’ve got a dirty smudge on your right cheek, so you’d better go and wipe it off.” Whenever we look at ourselves in the mirror, we have to act on what we see. Just so, as we gaze intently into the mirror of God’s Word, it tells us what we are and what we should be.
God’s Word is to be heard, received, and obeyed. There can be no true discipleship without this.
For further reading: James 1:16–27