“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” James 1:22 (NLT)
I was 18 the first time I read this verse. My youth pastor had been challenging me to begin reading the Bible, and each time he challenged me I gave some lame excuse. Finally one night, I remember climbing in bed, picking up my Bible and thumbing through the page trying to find a place to start reading. To be honest, I was skeptical and at the time didn’t really understand why or how reading the Bible daily would change anything.
That night, I decided to read one chapter each night for at least a week. Since the book of James was only 5 chapters, I decided to start there. As I started reading, God began to work in my heart. It was as if this letter was written directly to me because I was going through these things. I was going through some serious trials where I was searching for who I really was and what I was going to do now that I had graduated from High School. I was dealing with a ton of temptation. Sometimes I’d give in and sometimes I wouldn’t.
But then I read these words, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says.” Those words pierced my heart! I was convicted because I grew up in Church and I had heard God’s Word being taught on several occasions, but I wasn’t doing anything to apply the things I was hearing, I was just going through the motions.
I remember, thinking to myself, how come no-one ever showed me this verse before. I mean come-on, I’ve been in and out of Church since I was a baby, my parents were Sunday School teachers, my grandfather was a pastor, and I am just now reading this.
God really used that verse to get my attention. Today, as I read this, I’m reminded of how important it is to be TOTALLY PRESENT when I am hearing or reading the Word of God. Sometimes it’s easy to sit down to read and glance over what I am reading because 1) I’ve read it before or 2) because my mind is a million and one other places at that moment. However, being Totally Present means that I am reading or listening with an expectation that God is going to speak to me through what I am reading or hearing. It means that I’m not only going though the motions, but motions are going through me. (that sounds cheesy but I think that’s a really deep statement). Bottom line, it means that I begin to adjust my life, no matter how easy or difficult it may be, to align with the things God says in His Word.
Today, my prayer is that God would speak to each of us through His Word and that we would begin to adjust and align or lives around His Word. That when we read it, when we hear it that we would be Totally Present and allow His Word to change us from the inside out!
Father help us to not only hear your Word, but help us apply and do the things we hear and read so that our life will align with your Word!
Dan Gould 