Don't be deceived. Oh how easy it is to lie to yourself. James knows this. What a blessing to go to church and hear the Word. What a blessing to learn about Jesus. What good does it do anyone though if all we ever do is hear. If someone is a Christian what does that mean? Do we attend church once a week, listen to a sermon, sing some songs and go home, unchanged and unaffected in any real since by our worship?
Obedience Better Than Sacrifice
Many times in the Old Testament, God made it clear that worship in name only, sacrifices without a loving heart, were meaningless. Burnt offerings in the temple accomplished nothing if the supplicant did not have true faith. A faith that leads to obedience. As we learn in I Samuel 15: 22, "Obedience is better than sacrifice."
Do Not Deceive Yourself
In the New Testament, Jesus reminds us of the same thing. How easy it is to go through the motions of worship without any true faith. True faith requires us to 'do' something. Biblical love is not just a warm fuzzy feeling toward our fellow man but Biblical love requires action. We must show people our love. James tells us in chapter one verse twenty-two, " But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
To know if we are deceived, we need to ask ourselves some honest questions. What do I do with what I hear and read on Sunday? If the answer is little or nothing then maybe I am lying to myself about what I say I am.
God Speaks
It is certainly important to hear what the Lord has to say. God speaks to us. We know this because the Scriptures tell us so. How He chooses to speak to us is up to Him.
He speaks through the difficult times we have in our lives.
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes." Psalm 119: 67-68
Most definitely the Lord speaks through His Word. The scriptures reveal much to us and continue to as we grow in faith.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," 2 Timothy 3: 16
God speaks to us in prayer, if we will listen. Be still and quiet before the Lord. Let Him bring to mind scriptures or songs that direct you.
Hymns and songs of praise are another way the Lord speaks to us. Music moves the soul and praising God lets us feel His presence and hear His word to us. In 2 Chronicles 20:21 Jehoshaphat faces a huge army and what does he do?
"...he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.”
God heard the praises and God destroyed Jehoshaphat's enemy.
God speaks to us through those sent to minister to us. They may be a preacher, a teacher, a book, a devotional, or a Christian friend. So many examples of this exist but one is in Exodus 18 when Moses's father-in-law gives Moses some excellent, godly advice on how to take some of the burdens off of his shoulders.
Sometimes God even uses people who are not Christians to tell us things we need to hear. In 2 Chronicles 35 we read about the faithful King Josiah who failed to ask God about whether he should attack Pharaoh Necho. The Pharaoh warned Josiah that he had no quarrel with him. He warned him not to attack, but Josiah didn't heed the warning and as a result he lost his life in an unnecessary conflict. I remember clearly ignoring a warning that I knew was from God, even though it came from someone who wasn't Christian. The end of that situation was not good.
God also speaks to us through His creation and the majesty and awe that it creates in us. Because of this we have no excuse not to hear and know God.
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, " Romans 1: 20
God speaks through dreams to some of us. There are many recent firsthand accounts of Muslim people becoming Christians after they had a dream about Jesus. The God who once spoke to Balaam through a donkey can certainly speak to us today in any way he chooses.
When God Speaks, What Do We Do?
So God speaks and we listen, but then what is our action? How do we respond to the words we have heard? Do we obey?
Jesus himself says in Luke 6: 46,
"“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?"
Is that how we hear God? Do we hear Him and then ignore what we just heard? Jesus repeats this idea again in Luke 8: 28 when He says that the people who hear and then do the word of God are His mother and brothers.
So we don't just hear the word - we do it! We love, we forgive, and we serve.
Don't deceive yourself!
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