Mission Venture Ministries

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25) 

James stresses the need to act on what we hear. He says we are fooling ourselves if we think we can be hearers only and not doers of the Word. 

We need to remember that people who sincerely love God are those who keep His commands (John 14:15; 1 John 5:2-3), they are not only hearers but doers of his instructions. 

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus gave a stern warning to those who hear the words of God but don’t act on them: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers!’’ 

And He continues: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27). 

As we see, both groups “heard.” But the “wise man” was the one who not only heard what Jesus said but also put what He said into action. There are a lot of people today who say that they love Jesus and call themselves Christians; people who love to call Him “Lord.” We have to remember though that Jesus reprimanded them by also saying: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). 

James wrote that we are to be “doers” of God’s word, “and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (v. 22b). People who only “hear” God’s word but who do not “do” what it says, are fooling themselves; they think that they are receiving a benefit from ‘hearing’, when in fact they are deceiving themselves if they only hear and do not obey. 

The main point of James’ illustration about the man and the mirror is that he quickly forgets what he saw in the mirror, meaning what the word of God is pointing out to him. The mirror tells it like it is, it shows and reveals to us what we really look like. But the man, who takes this quick look, quickly forgets what he saw (1:24). He is a “forgetful hearer” (1:25). And so he does nothing about the problems he saw in the mirror and keeps doing things the same way. 

When we are not interested in truly hearing the word of God we are also not interested in being doers of His word because we have wrong priorities and do not regard Scripture as important. 

The word of God is like a mirror that reveals to us the very thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). It shows us our ugly, self-centered attitudes. It exposes our pride. It confronts our contempt for others, our lack of compassion and the lack of restraining our tongue. 

Consequently, if we just take a quick glance at the word once in a while and then rush out to do something else without doing anything to address the problems that it reveals, it won’t do us any good. 

To be doers of the word, we need to give it more than a passing glance. It requires concentration and hard work to apply it to ourselves and to our life. 

The problem of forgetting God is a frequent seen in the Old Testament; just like Moses warned Israel before they got into the promised land when he said, “be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slaver” (Deuteronomy 6:12). 

As we see, there is an inherent danger if a person hears the word, but does not put it into practice, because they are deluding themselves. The solution is to apply the word to fix the problems that it reveals. 

In verse 25 James changes terminology. Up till now, he’s mentioned “the word” (1:18, 21, 22, 23), but now he refers to it as “the perfect law of liberty.” 

The reason James does this is that he was writing to Jewish-Christian readers who were prone to keep the Law outwardly, while their hearts were far from God. Like the rich young ruler, they thought that they were okay, because they kept all of the commandments from their youth up, but as we read in Matthew’s 19:16-22 account, the rich young ruler was violating the great commandment, because he loved his money more than he loved God. 

When James calls it the perfect law of liberty, he is referring to the new covenant promise of the law written on the heart, enabling obedience to that law for the first time. This was written by Jeremiah 31:33 and Paul also later writes“(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Romans 2:14-16). 

When we look into God’s mirror “His word” and apply it to our hearts we will be set free as Jesus told the Jews who believed in Him: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). 

Do you want God’s blessing in your life? If you say yes, then James’ answer is clear: Don’t be a forgetful hearer of the word when you look at God’s mirror. Instead become an effectual doer and you will be blessed. 

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