When is the last time that you heard a message from God’s word, recognized the accuracy of the mirror of Scripture in locating a sin area in your life, but you made no attempt to change anything? James 1:22-25 focuses on the responsibility of each believer to respond to truth. Those that do not respond deceive themselves (vs. 22).

The believer who both listens and puts what he hears into practice will be blessed in what he does. The reason is fourfold. First, he “looks intently” into God’s truth. This Greek verb denotes penetrating absorption. It is the word used to describe John’s act of stooping and peering into the tomb of Jesus (John 20:5). Here in James 1:25 it is as though a person stoops over the Scripture, zealously searching for its message. All believers should search the Scriptures with this amount of zeal. The second reason why this man is blessed is that “he continues therein.” He is the blessed man of Psalm 1 who meditates in God’s law day and night. The third reason is that he is not a “forgetful hearer.” And the fourth and most important reason is that he puts the truth into practice.

The person whose religious experience is genuine will put spiritual truth into practice.

Written by Mike Williquette, Business Director of Baptist World Mission