DO (spanish below)
My beautiful wife Winnie is an example in my life. She encourages me and motivates me by asking the right questions at the right time. Never condemning, but always though provoking. She asked me the other day, ‘if your faith doesn’t do anything, what is it good for?’ The answer I came up with days later is this, Our faith makes us DO things that we would not dream of doing without that faith.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
We are called by God to get out and DO, not to hide in a room somewhere and think holy thoughts. When He wants us to be alone in a room somewhere, He can let us get sick or arrested. Living down here in Nicaragua right now, both can easily be realities at any given time.
Many scholars of the Word really dislike my favorite book in the Bible, the book of James. I think they get upset by this verse, and verses like James 2: 26 ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also’. I am not just talking about the works of obeying the law, but works as in doing the things that you hear the Word tell you to do. Bottomline, The book og JAMES IS the Word of God as well, so if you discard that, what else will you discard?
James was Jesus’ little brother (yes, Jesus had brothers). James was thrown from a 100 foot high tower because he was a believer, and then clubbed to death because he survived the fall.
I have noticed that these same scholars as a rule are good people. They are great students and teachers but not really outgoing nor friendly to the outsider (not even to others believers who have a slightly different doctrine).
I think some Bible scholars could almost be classified as ‘hearers only’. They are obedient but miss out on the goodness of the Christian walk, or as Isaiah says, not eating from the good of the land. Isaiah 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: The full Christian life belongs to the DOers. The DOer’s life is delicious. Maybe difficult and uncomfortable sometimes, but in general it’s GREAT! DOers fumble through life, clumsily making friends, irritating scholars, helping others, witnessing and sometimes getting to see rebirth experiences.
Honestly I don’t think it is possible to really hear the Word, and not do what it says. The key to being a DOer is to be obedient AND WILLING to do the Word in the day to day real life. A willing heart is necessary to make the ears able to hear. The willingness then forces us to do. Kind of a circle.
Just sitting in church, home groups or seminary with like-minded people and taking notes is ineffective IF you aren’t willing to gleefully take what you learn outside to a lost and dying world. I am talking about actually loving on people who aren’t the same as you. Getting out and DOing it daily, as a lifestyle, not an event. No words nor teachings needed, just radical uncompromising love!
No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. You only go out on a limb if you care. DOers care, and are exposed to the beatings the world, as well as the scholars, have to offer. We are not called to be monks hidden away in a monastery.
The scholarly ‘hearer only’ can become a good teacher from behind the pulpit, but not a good pastor. They have all the commentaries, the Greek and Hebrew down pat, but not much love. A pastor must be a hearer and a doer of the Word of God. Pastors includes the word Missionaries as well.
On the street many ‘hearers only’ are hard to differentiate from non-believers because they are both in the doldrums. Just another grumpy face. As a televangelist once said, “if you have joy in your heart, you might as well let your face know about it”. Hearers don’t stand out, but DOers do, because they are having a BLAST!.
‘Hearers only’ are often obedient to the Word, but not willing to do more. For that reason I don’t know if it is even possible to be ‘a hearer only’ because as noted above, you have to be willing in the first place, which leads to doing.
DOers are HEARERS as well, but once they’ve heard, they step out on faith and try to do what they learned. They blow it, make mistakes but at least they are out there doing it. The saying is teachers teach, and DOers DO.
We need the willingness and courage to be obedient enough to do what we hear.
Hearing is good, but tit has to be accompanied by is a willingness to do.
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Romans 2:13
Dean AndWinnie Peters
Joyfully DOing the ‘least of these’ in Nicaragua for the glory of God
www.whatistheloveofGod.com
www.pureheartchildren.org
Facebook = Dean andWinnie Peters
SPANISH
HACERLO
Santiago 1:22 Pero sean hacedores de la palabra, y no solamente oyentes.
Hay muchos ‘solo oyentes’ de la Palabra, que critican mi libro favorito de la Biblia, el libro de Santiago. Creo que se molestan con este versículo, y con versículos como Santiago 2: 26 ‘Porque como el cuerpo sin espíritu está muerto, así también la fe sin obras está muerta.’ Los ‘solo oyentes’ no les gusta porque ellos tienen fe pero no hagan las obras que la corresponden.
Santiago ‘James’ era el hermano menor de Jesús (Claro que sí!Jesús tenía hermanos). Fue arrojado desde una torre de 100 pies de altura, y luego fue golpeado hasta la muerte porque sobrevivió a la caída.
Me he dado cuenta de que los ‘solo oyentes’ son buenas personas, excelentes estudiantes y maestros, pero no son realmente extrovertidos ni amables con gente diferente (ni siquiera otros creyentes que tienen una doctrina ligeramente diferente). Definitivamente no son muy buenos evangelistas, que es la llamada de Dios a TODOS los verdaderos creyentes.
Creo que los ‘solo oyentes’ se pierden el gozo del camino cristiano, o como dice Isaías, no comen del bien de la tierra. Isaías 1:19. ‘Si queréis y sois obedientes, comeréis el bien de la tierra.’
La vida Cristiana Plena pertenece a los HACEDORES de pa palabra. La vida DE UN HACEDOR es deliciosa. Difícil e incómodo a veces, pero en general ¡PERFECTO! Paseando por la vida, haciendo amigos, ayudando a la gente y presenciando experiencias de renacimiento.
Solo sentándose en la iglesia o seminarios con personas iguales y tomar notas es ineficaz SI no estás dispuesto a llevar alegremente lo que aprendes afuera a un mundo perdido y moribundo. Estoy hablando de amar a las personas que no son lo mismo que usted. A nadie le importa cuánto sabes hasta que sepan cuánto TU AMAS A ELLOS. Sólo tomas riesgos si a ti te importa a los demás . A los HACEDORES a todos les importa.
El “solo oyente” puede convertirse en un buen maestro detrás del púlpito, pero generalmente no es muy amable. Tienen todos los comentarios, el griego y el hebreo, pero no mucho amor.
En la calle, muchos ‘solo oyentes’ son difíciles distinguir de los no creyentes porque están en la penumbra como todos los demás. Sólo otra cara gruñona.
Como un televangelista dijo una vez, “si tienes gozo en tu corazón, debes dejar saber tu rostro”. Los oyentes no se destacan de los demás, pero los HACEDORES sí, porque están teniendo UNA PACHANGA CON LA VIDA !
Creo que la clave para ser un HACEDOR es ser obediente Y DESEOSO hacer la Palabra en su vida real. ‘Solo oyentes’ son a menudo obedientes a la Palabra, pero no están dispuestos a HACERLA. Los DOers también son OYENTES, pero una vez que han escuchado, salen en fe y tratan de hacer lo que aprendieron. Lo arruinan, cometen errores, pero por lo menos están esforzándose. El dicho es que los maestros enseñan, y los HACEDORES HACEN.
Necesitamos voluntad y coraje para ser lo suficientemente obedientes para hacerlo.
Oír la Palabra es buena SI hay voluntad de hacer lo que escuchas.
Porque no los oyentes de la ley son justos ante Dios, sino que los que hacen la ley serán justificados. Romanos 2:13