The Blessing That Comes On The Path Of Obedience
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22
The casual reader of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer might conclude that the boy had a severe hearing problem, for if he had heard Aunt Polly calling, surely he would have responded … wouldn’t he?
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But the problem is that Tom did hear and respond—though not in the way his Aunt Polly wanted!
John Henry Jowett explores James’s teaching that to hear and not to do is simply not to hear.
WALK WITH JOHN HENRY JOWETT
“When we hear the Word but do not do it, there has been a defect in our hearing. We may listen to the Word for mere entertainment. Or we may attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the Word. We may assume that some magical power belongs to the mere reading of the Word. All this is perverse and delusive, for no listening is healthy which is not mentally referred to obedience.
“We are to listen with a view to obedience, with our eyes upon the very road where the obedient feet will travel. That is to say, we are to listen with purpose, as though we were ambassadors receiving instructions from the king concerning some momentous mission.
“ ‘Doing’ makes a new thing of ‘hearing.’ The statute obeyed becomes a song. The commandment is found to be a beatitude. The decree discloses riches of grace. The hidden things of God are not discovered until we are treading the path of obedience.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Many excuses are offered for hearing but not obeying the King’s command: “I didn’t pay attention to it.” “I heard it, but I didn’t believe it.” “I forgot.”
In each case, these excuses reveal that a person has lost sight of their marching orders: to represent the King by responding to his commands. Will you tune your ears—and actions—to the one who speaks words of life?
