REFLECTIONS

Be Doers of the Word

When God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, He gave them an understanding of free will and a sense of right and wrong. But to help make it clear, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments to explain sin to the people. But Moses’ message to the people didn’t end with his explanation:

Observe them carefully,for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? _{(Deuteronomy 4:6-8; emphasis mine)}

Moses’ message asked the people not only to teach the way God wants us to live, but to set examples through our own lives. Then Moses cautioned:

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” _{(Deuteronomy 4:9)}

We impart knowledge to our children by what we tell them. But we instill knowledge in them by what they see us do. That is the point James makes in the New Testament:

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. _{(James 1:21-25 NKJV)}

Is a person’s character rooted in their knowledge? Can children be taught to love without feeling loved? Be doers of the word—

Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” _{(John 15:8; emphasis mine)}

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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