A couple of years ago, I suffered a severe back injury. For seventeen grueling days, I was unable to lift my head higher than 3 o’clock. Despite a trip to the ER and prescription medication potent enough to sedate an elephant, my lower back remained locked up as tight as a drum. I shuffled from room to room, and when that was too painful, I crawled. Sitting was out of the question, so for more than two weeks, you could find me either curled up in a fetal position or standing with my head hovering three feet from the floor. Through clenched teeth, and tears streaming down my cheeks, I vowed I’d go to any length to follow doctors orders.
Mercifully, with the help of my family doctor, physical therapist, and chiropractor my back began to heal a couple of weeks after the injury. By week three I was standing straight again, and the pain was tolerable.
My treatment team unanimously instructed that I’d need to exercise indefinitely on most days of the week to maintain mobility in my back. Individually, they all warned me that if I failed to keep moving, I’d experience a setback. I’ve never been athletic, (I’m the nerdy type), but I obeyed my doctor’s orders.
As I recovered, I faithfully went to the gym each morning. My back was gaining strength with each passing week. My mobility increased, and the pain was minimal. In fact, after six months, my back felt so good I figured I could skip a few mornings at the gym. The mind-numbing pain I’d experienced was a horrible but distant memory. Before long I was hitting the snooze button more often than the elliptical machine.
And guess what?
My back went out again.
Shocking, I know.
Knowing what we should do and actually doing it are entirely two different things. How often do we experience this same dilemma in our spiritual life? While it’s foolish to disregard medical advice and end up in a jam, it’s pure insanity to profess to be a Christ follower and ignore God’s Word. If we do, we are deceiving ourselves.
The book of James addresses this issue. James writes, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22).
As Americans, we live in an era where the Word of God has never been more accessible. We live under an umbrella of religious freedom that allows us the opportunity to worship anytime we choose. We are free to darken the door of our church every Sunday and hear our pastors preach from the pulpit. In this digital age, we have at our fingertips countless sermons, podcasts, blogs, Christian books, and discipleship tools available to us 24 hours a day. We have every opportunity to hear and know the Word of God.
But James’ words step on my toes because I confess I hear the Word more often than I obey it.
For instance, I know 1 Timothy 2:2 says I’m to pray for government officials, but I’m more inclined to complain about politicians than to pray for them. I know Colossians 3:13 says I’m to be quick to forgive, but in reality, I’m prone to nurse a grudge. Mark 12:31 tells me I’m to love my neighbor as myself, but in all honesty, I prefer loving my neighbors when it’s convenient.
Granted, perfection isn’t attainable. Only Christ lived a perfect life. But Christ-followers are called to a life of authenticity. If our lifestyle doesn’t reflect obedience to the Word of God, we are phonies. God, help us. If every American who professed to be a Christian was a “doer of the Word” and not a “hearer only” our society would look much different than it does. Knowledge is essential, but it’s useless if we don’t apply it. In the same way, medical advice provides no benefit to the patient who disregards it; the Word of God doesn’t bless the listener who doesn’t heed its instruction. James made it clear that the blessing doesn’t come from hearing or knowing the Word; it comes from doing the Word. (James 1:25).
In fact, do you want to know the key to living a blessed life? James says it’s obeying the Word of God. James wrote that if we do anything less, we are deceiving ourselves. (James 1:22,25). James is blunt and convicting, but it’s a message we need to hear.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go to the gym.
