Doers of the Word

James 1:22 (KJV) But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Sandra was in church for every meeting. She kept coming to hear the word of God because she believed she was a believer who was on her way to heaven. The problem was that she was not a doer of the word, she was merely a hearer only. Somehow she had deceived herself to believe that her conduct as a person does not matter. She was living [in sin] with her boyfriend, but she was a regular hearer of God’s word in the church and had convinced herself that she was heaven-bound.

In today’s verse, notice that the Holy Spirit talks about hearers of the word, not those who simply heard once. The reason a person can be called a hearer of the word is that he keeps hearing the word,  not just that he heard it once.

A hearer who is not a doer of the word is one who keeps coming back to church to hear the word because he somehow believes that despite the fact that he is not living according to the word of God, he is saved and going to heaven. The Bible says that such a person is only deceiving himself.

Believers who refuse to live in obedience to God’s word are simply deceiving themselves when they believe they will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9, 1 John 3:7). See what our Lord Jesus says in Matthew:

Matthew 7:21 (KJV) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

The will of God is contained in His word, We must be doers of His word.

Go into today remembering that a person who deceives himself is one who doesn’t live in obedience to the word, but believes that he is safe because he is in church hearing the word.

Prayer: Dear Lord, please deliver me from self-deception. Help me to live in obedience to your word and be fruitful in every good work. Amen.

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