“22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.27 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” (James 1:22-27).
Love Does. That’s the name of the book I’ve been reading and a quote that has captured my heart and my mind ever since I opened it and read the very first page. In the book, Bob Goff shares stories from his life all centered around this same message: love does. Love doesn’t just think about doing good things, love does good things. Love isn’t just about thoughts and feelings and emotions, but true love shows itself most fully in actions. This book got me thinking that the very best example we have of this is God, who is in fact Love Himself.
God didn’t just think about creating us, He did it. God didn’t just think about loving us, He loved and loves us forever and into eternity. God didn’t just think about sending His Son to save us, He sent Him. God didn’t just think about fixing a mansion for us in heaven for all of eternity, He’s already had it it prepared (John 14:2-3). God is literally the perfect example of love in action and as Christians, we strive to imitate Him in all we do- being and showing what love is included.
There is a huge difference between listening and doing. James teaches us an important lesson here in the first chapter of his book. Simply listening to the Word isn’t enough- God commands us to do more than that, to be more than that- DO WHAT IT SAYS, He plainly tells us.
Hearing the Word is the easy part, what’s much more difficult is going out into the world and doing what we read in the Bible and hear from our pastors in church on Sunday mornings. Truly, the Bible calls us to love- to love and obey God, and to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). In John 13:35, Jesus tells us that our love for one another is how the world will know that we are His disciples. It’s truly not easy to love the guy who just cut you off in traffic, it’s certainly not simple to care for your boss at work who never has a kind thing to say, and it’s definitely not painless to pray for the woman at the gym who is always so snotty and rude.
But that’s part of our job as Christians. And our job was never meant to be easy or comfortable.
In James chapter two verses 14 through 26, we are told that faith without works is dead. Not that works can save us, but a faith without action is no faith at all because faith goes hand in hand with love. It’s not enough to go around preaching the Word if we neglect to share and show that Word by our actions.
Think about it, if someone told you they loved you, but never had a kind word to say and never checked in with you, was constantly rude, and talked about you behind your back, would you truly believe that they loved you? Of course not. In the same way, who is going to believe God’s messengers that He is love and that He sent His one and only Son to save them from their sins so that they can be with Him forever in Heaven if His messengers’ lives don’t actively mirror that love and thankfulness you would expect from such a message?
This world will continue to be dark, gloomy, and full of distress- don’t become polluted by it. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Love doesn’t come naturally to us or anyone, but we must ask God for love to always be at the center of all we do. The world’s default emotion is most often not love, and it never will be, do not conform to that way of thinking, rather be, “transformed by the renewing of your mind”, ask God to make love your default emotion and action.
We are called to Christ’s witnesses. We were chosen to be His disciples. We were made to love. This includes all people: the helpless, the broken, the needy, the homeless, the rude, the angry, the bitter, the annoying, the depressed, the uncomfortable, the difficult, the dying, the awkward, the ones different from us, the ones whose lives or attributes we covet, and the ones whom we sadly despise. Why? Because Jesus died for you, and He died for them too. Out of the love and thankfulness we have for our Savior, we ought to be throwing that love and thankfulness around like confetti to all people- all the days of our lives.
