Doing vs Hearing

So get rid of all the filth and evil 

 in your lives, and humbly accept the   

WORD

 God has planted in your hearts, for  

it has the power to save your souls.

 But don’t just listen to God’s word.  

You must do what it says. 

Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  

 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, 

it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  

 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  

 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, 

and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, 

then God will bless you for doing it.

 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, 

you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.  

Strong words from James 1.  How many times have I been guilty of this?  How many times a day do I see people quoting God's WORD and not living what they claim they believe?  It makes me sick!!

Either God's Word is true and I believe it and accept EVERY word as guidance for my life or I don't.  I can turn away my heart like the Pharisees. Jesus said they were "HYPOCRITES!" who "honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:7-8).

People do a lot of things in the name of religion or God.  So much of their efforts have nothing to do with God and everything to do with themselves ~ their pride, their lack of remorse at their sins, their manipulation of others or of circumstances to ensure their selfish desires are met.

I believe that makes God so sad.  He has so much for us if we would just follow/obey Him. Why do we settle for less when we could receive the good & perfect by Him?  Our "works" can be useless and even open the door to the enemy when we do them outside of what God's Word instructs us.

James 1 ends with this:   

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  

May we not get too busy looking after the needs of others or ourselves that we forget to guard our moral purity.  What does it benefit if we gain the world by our good works but lose our souls? 

"They are the most foolish of all men who purchase the pleasures of this life with the loss of everlasting bliss."