THE IMPLANTED WORD
Opening Prayer
Thank you, Father, for the wisdom, truth, and saving grace of your Word. Help me to apply and share it today.
Read JAMES 1:19–27
Listening and Doing
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 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.
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.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Consider what helps you go deeper in your relationship with God and nurtures your faith.Gardeners know the importance of planting seeds in fertile soil and nurturing their growth with water, nutrients, and the occasional weeding! This takes time, care, and painstaking research. For God’s ‘implanted word’ (v. 21) to germinate and become fruitful in our own lives, we need to provide fertile soil by rejecting all that causes harm to ourselves and others, so we can be fully open to all that God’s Word can teach us.
James gives us practical advice to aid the fruitfulness of God’s Word in our lives: to listen, to speak only after careful consideration, and be slow to anger (v. 19). This is a huge challenge for some of us, and yet is essential advice that enables our relationships to flourish.
But listening is not enough. Our passage compares listening and not acting on God’s Word with looking at ourselves in a mirror, and then forgetting what we have seen (vv. 23–25). If we look deeply into God’s Word, our response is not to live without reference to this freedom, but to step out in obedience, acting on all that God’s living Word offers. Implanted with God’s Word, we are challenged to grow in practical holiness and to share God’s compassion for those who are in most need in our churches and community (v. 27).
Apply
How can you become a ‘doer and not just a hearer’ of God’s Word today?
Closing prayer
Lord God, you are more than worthy of my love, my praise, and my devotion. Help me, that all I am testifies to who you are.
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