By:
M. Williams
According
to a newspaper report, the police ticketed a New Zealander man 32 times over a
5-year period. Why? For
not wearing a seatbelt.
Though
his violations were costing him money, he refused to buckle up. So he resorted
to deception—fashioning a strap that would hang over his shoulder and make it
appear he was wearing a seatbelt. He got away with it for a while, but his
deception came to an end when he was involved in an accident that thrust him
into the steering wheel and took his
life. In his attempt to deceive the law, the man was only fooling
himself.
James,
in the opening chapter of his letter, taught his readers how to avoid the land
mine of self-deception. In order to avoid it, he encouraged them to be hearers
of God’s Word (James 1:22). James understood that when
they heard the Word, it had the potential to transform their attitudes and
actions. God, through the Scriptures would get to the root of things. He would
treat them as they are and not as they pretended them to be.
James
also encouraged this congregation to be doers of the Word (James
1:25). According to James, hearing God’s Word was good, but it
wasn’t enough. They had to do what it said. As the mirror of God’s Word
revealed what was out of place in their lives, they were to align their lives
with the truth. To hear God’s Word and not practice it led to self-deception.
However, to be hearers and doers of it led to blessing.
Hearing
and doing what Scripture says reveals what our lives are really like, not what
we pretend them to be (James 1:26), and it helps us to avoid
deceiving ourselves. Let’s practice hearing and doing what the Bible says and
experience the joy and blessing that accompanies obedience.
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