A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (April 6, 2016)
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:25)
James 2:14 says, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?”James 2:17 says, “Thus also faith, by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Later in the same chapter it says, “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”(James 2:20-22).
The Word of God is trying to make a point here. And the point is this. Faith without works is dead!
How does a man have faith without works? By hearing the Word and not doing it. So, according to the Bible, a man who hears the Word and does not do what it says, does not truly have faith. Because he hears the Word of God he has convinced himself that everything is okay. The reality, however, is that everything is not okay, he just thinks it is. Therefore he has deceived himself and living faith does not exist in him.
In Matthew 7:24, Jesus tells the story of two men who built houses. One man, a wise man, built his house on the rock and then when the storms came his house withstood the storms. The other man, a foolish man, built his house on the sand. When the storms came, his house was destroyed. Jesus said the man who built his house on the rock was like someone who hears his sayings and does them. He compared the foolish man who built his house on the sand to a man who heard his sayings and did not do them.
We must not deceive ourselves. Hearing the Word of God without acting on the Word can be deadly. God didn’t give us His Word just so we would be highly educated. Education is good. It’s a good thing to read and study God’s Word, but without action it profits us nothing. That’s what the scribes and Pharisees did. But because they did not put the Word into action, Jesus rebuked them for their hypocrisy.
We’ve all known people who can talk the talk but never seem to deliver. Our words are important. Our thoughts are important. Our faith is important. But we must not just believe, we must act on our belief. Only then will there be faith.
James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe. But do the demons have faith? No! Of course not! They know about the Word but they do not act on it. So, we have a choice to make. Do we hear the Word and sit back and say, “That sounds pretty good” and do nothing but talk about it? Or, do we hear the Word and then act on what we hear?
Only by acting on the Word, only by hearing the sayings of Jesus and doing them, will our houses be built on the rock. Only when we build on the rock will we survive the storms.
Remember this. A doer of the Word is someone who prays for the sick. A doer of the Word is someone who forgives. A doer of the Word is someone who loves those who don’t love in return. A doer of the Word visits those in prison. A doer of the Word takes care of the widows and orphans. We could go on and on. A doer of the Word is someone who not only says they have faith but they have the corresponding actions to prove it.
Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15, NLT
