Living God's Word and Reading it: The Difference

Living God’s Word, and Reading it: The Difference

Main Scripture: James 1:19-25.
“(Vs.19) My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (Vs.20) for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (Vs. 21) Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. (Vs. 22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (Vs.23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror (Vs. 24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (Vs. 25) But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”

-It is important to listen to what God’s Word says, but it is much more important to obey it, to do what it says. We can measure the effectiveness of our Bible study time by the effect it has on our behavior and attitudes. This is a rhetorical question: Do you put into action what you have studied?

-So how important is it to live God’s Word everyday? Very Important!! If we don’t live God’s Word, and just read it, there really is no point! We must put into action, what we read out of the Word of God. Let me show you what Scripture says about those who don’t put God’s Word into practice, and may turn away after being saved. And in this Scripture, I’ll also show you what happens to them.

-2 Peter 2:20-22: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to it vomit,” and, “A sow(pig) that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.””

-Wow! It states clearly right there in these verses, that basically if you are to ever turn back after being saved, you are worse off than you were at the beginning. So, let me ask this again, how important is it again to not only read God’s Word, but live it? Very Important! It should be so important in your life to study, know, and live God’s Word, that you should have no desire whatsoever to turn back to your old way of life.

-2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!”

-Your old ways, old life-style before you were saved, or old sinful desires, should be gone completely and no part of your life, if you are to be a true follower of Christ. And some people convince themselves that some of the things they may do are ok, and not sinful. If what we do does not line up with what God’s Word says, it is sin, and should be no part of our lives if we claim to be true followers of Christ.

-John 8:31-32: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

-John 13:17: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

-When you are taught certain things out of God’s Word, or if you’re reading His Word, and the Lord shows you something, you must live your life according to what His Word says. Especially if you know something you are doing is wrong, and you know the Lord is convicting you, but you keep doing it, you are cursed and only digging yourself a deeper whole, according to 2 Peter 2:20-22. It says here in John 13:17, you will be blessed if you do these things.

-2 John 9: “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

-1 John 3:6: “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

Vs. 9-10, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”

Vs. 18, “Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

-As true believers of Christ, we must live out holy, pure, and dedicated lives for Christ, with all our hearts. We must give him our best everyday. Holiness, Faithfulness, and Purity are three very important things in our Christian walk. This verse will describe to you how important Holiness is in our daily Christian walk:

-Hebrews 12:14: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

-Let’s look back, at that second part of this verse, this is very important that you get this! What’s it say? “Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” So, if we aren’t living holy lives for Christ, we are never going to draw close to Him like He desires us to. And if we aren’t drawing close to God everyday and growing stronger in the Lord daily, we are drawing away from Him daily.

-1 Peter 1:15: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;”

-So, it certainly shows how vital and important it is to not just read God’s Word, just so we can feel like we are getting close to God, because we have a limited amount of time, and we want to hurry and read a quick Scripture here and there each morning. No! We must live out His Word everyday, wherever we go, whether at school, the store, to our friends or family’s house, church, of course. But, it’s more than just the church, we should be living Christian lives out side of church, living God’s Word. Reading it will get you no where with God. You must live it out everyday.

-So I ask you this as my last statement: Are you living God’s Word, or just reading it?

PM