I Know It Says That But…

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. - James 1:22-25

Each generation has had its parenting advisors. We’ve had Dr. Spock, Dr. Judy, Dr. Phil and Dr. Dobson. We have run the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime. Each of these men and women has offered their counsel on marriage and parenting. Some have been found to be idiots, some to be wise and on some, the jury is still out. That’s always the test, isn’t it? Time.

The Bible has been around for thousands of years. Even if you don’t believe in God, you can believe in its longevity. Only something timeless and classic would have endured this long. Even if you don’t believe that it was divinely inspired, but simply the distillation of humanity’s wisdom, anything that didn’t work would have been sloughed off long ago. People have gone to the Holy Writings for thousands of years for advice and have found it. Millions of people have followed its precepts and have led successful, happy, purposeful lives. That should tell you something. Why listen to anything less than the best?

However, the Bible’s instructions must be put into practice to be any good. It is useless to hear the timeless principles of the Word and yet not act upon them. That would be like buying a recipe book, turning to the page dealing with a cake you would like to cook, reading through the entire recipe and then doing something completely different. The recipe calls for chocolate sauce and you use ketchup instead. The recipe says to bake for two hours and you decide fifteen minutes is enough. It requires sugar and you decide it would be better with salt. Get the picture? What kind of cake would that be? The only thing that would make it worse would be to complain about the recipe and declare that it was outdated or confusing.

We need to make sure we have an accurate picture of God. So, where do you turn for that? After all, there are thousands of religions, hundreds of denominations and probably 50 churches within driving distance of your house that would each claim to have the truth! Don’t rely on your own image of God. Instead, listen to the Holy Spirit as you read God’s love letter to you – the Bible.

The apostle Paul warned us about making up our own image of what God is when he described some foolish people: Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. (Romans 1:21-22). In your heart of hearts, you know that God deserves your respect and obedience. You know deep down that you need to listen to and follow the Holy Scriptures so my best advice to you would be ‘Don’t just listen – do. Follow the recipe!’