January 10, 2020
Am I Living What I'm Learning?
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." – James 1:22
Commentary
Imagine a football team preparing for a game, and all week they work on one trick play. The idea would be to run this play at the right time in the game. Once the game began, at just the right moment, the coaches decided to run the play. The play was called from the sideline, the quarterback called the play in the huddle, and the team set up in formation. The ball was then snapped, but no one moved because the players did not know what to do. How disappointing. Even though the team had practiced the play all week, they did not know how to execute it in a game situation. The team was not able to live out what they spent all week learning.
In today's verse, James mentioned the importance of knowing God's Word and living it out in our lives. Like the football team, what good does it do us, as Christians, if we sit in a Life Group and worship services week after week and hear God's Word but never apply it to our lives? What benefit is it to spend time daily in God's Word and never live it out? What does this say about our belief in and love for God's Word? What would this reveal to a lost world? David Platt wrote, "God's Word evokes action and if there is no action from the Word, then clearly there has been no acceptance of God's Word" (Christ-Centered Exposition: James, 21). Are you living what you are learning each week?
Application
• Write down two application points from this Sunday's sermon and work on applying those in your life this week.
• Identify one takeaway from your devotional time today and apply it in your life.
• Ask yourself, "do I have any unapplied truth in my life?"
Prayer Points
• Pray that we would have a desire and passion for living out God's Word in our lives.
• Pray that we would have a passion for proclaiming God's Word with our words and showing the truth with our actions.