James 1:19-27

It is important to know what we believe, but it is also important that we learn how to apply those beliefs in our daily lives.

Be swift, James said, to listen. It is a noisy world and much of what we hear is ungodly and spiritually unprofitable. Pay attention to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. Being swift to hear will help us to be slow to speak and slow to wrath.

When disputes arise, and they will, applying this teaching will help us to be patient and loving in resolving those disputes. James said, “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” All of us have our own opinions, but we must prayerfully seek God’s counsel and grace to guide us in glorifying Him and not ourselves.

Laying apart filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness suggests the act of skimming off a substance floating on the surface of a liquid. With God’s help, we must skim off the filth of malice, envy and ulterior motives in our lives. Admit we need help, James teaches, and “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

It is so important that we firmly trust in God’s Word, and it is precious to us. This is receiving it as the infallible and inerrant Word. The Bible is challenged in every way, even by religious folks. We do not always understand everything we read, but that does not lessen its value. Meekly accept the Word so that it becomes implanted in your heart, and part of your life. In its ability to save souls, the Bible is not the source of salvation, but it is an instrument that points the way to salvation.

Receiving and knowing the Word must lead to action. Be doers of the Word, James said. Too many people are all too ready to listen to teaching and preaching, and never exhibiting any outward effects of the Word. If God’s Word is interesting, but has no effect on your life, you might be deceiving yourself by thinking you are saved when, in fact, you are not.

Being a hearer and not a doer of the Word, James went on to explain, is like comparing the Word to a mirror in which we have the opportunity to look at ourselves, and then quickly forget what we saw.

In truth, the Bible is like a mirror in which our hearts and souls are examined. It is God’s Word that the Holy Spirit so often uses to convict us and bring us to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. The Bible shows us our corrupt, sinful nature. It is a tragedy with eternal, horrific consequences to merely glance at the Bible.

Of course, we are supposed to obey what we read in the Bible. Obedience is anything but oppression. Obedience of the “perfect law of liberty” gives us more freedom than we have ever known before.

What is the pure religion that James spoke of? In the Bible we see Christ Jesus and how He gave His life to save us. How can this not affect the way we look at our fellow man. Prayerfully, we will be doers and not just hearers of the Word.