December 30th, 2020
By Bill Yerkes
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” James 1:22-25
There is nothing magical about the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. The world doesn’t reset the clock of life to see what the New Year will bring. Change is not promised in a new year. Weight loss programs do not change, they only go on sale to convince you it is time to lose weight. Gyms do not offer miracle workouts with well-known trainers to change your body in the New Year, only opportunities to entice you into joining their program. And the church, as hard as it may try, cannot bring you into a deeper relationship with Jesus. There is no guarantee life will be any different in 2021 than it is right now unless you DO something.
If you decide you want to lose weight in 2021, you need change your eating habits and keep those new habits as a routine for weeks and months in order to see a difference. James is making it clear in his first chapter how we may hear and/or read the Word often, but unless we put it into action, it has no benefit for our lives. Reading through the Bible in a year does no good if it is just to check it off your list of “things to do” in the coming months. When we are challenged by something in the Word, either on a Sunday morning, in a small group, or in our private devotions, the challenge is only beneficial to us if we accept it and DO something about it.
The analogy of seeing yourself in the mirror and then forgetting what you look like makes me chuckle just to think how that could ever be true. After all, looking in the mirror is the very reason I want to find that weight loss program for the New Year! How then, can we look at our lives and see, feel, and know what we need, and just walk away forgetting how God has given us all of the tools we need for change in His Word?
Whatever your goals may be for 2021, start with reading the Word and putting it into action. What does that look like for you in the coming days? How might that change/challenge you in the New Year? Where is God calling you to take action and make real change in your life, in your home, and in your church?
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” James 1:22-25
There is nothing magical about the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. The world doesn’t reset the clock of life to see what the New Year will bring. Change is not promised in a new year. Weight loss programs do not change, they only go on sale to convince you it is time to lose weight. Gyms do not offer miracle workouts with well-known trainers to change your body in the New Year, only opportunities to entice you into joining their program. And the church, as hard as it may try, cannot bring you into a deeper relationship with Jesus. There is no guarantee life will be any different in 2021 than it is right now unless you DO something.
If you decide you want to lose weight in 2021, you need change your eating habits and keep those new habits as a routine for weeks and months in order to see a difference. James is making it clear in his first chapter how we may hear and/or read the Word often, but unless we put it into action, it has no benefit for our lives. Reading through the Bible in a year does no good if it is just to check it off your list of “things to do” in the coming months. When we are challenged by something in the Word, either on a Sunday morning, in a small group, or in our private devotions, the challenge is only beneficial to us if we accept it and DO something about it.
The analogy of seeing yourself in the mirror and then forgetting what you look like makes me chuckle just to think how that could ever be true. After all, looking in the mirror is the very reason I want to find that weight loss program for the New Year! How then, can we look at our lives and see, feel, and know what we need, and just walk away forgetting how God has given us all of the tools we need for change in His Word?
Whatever your goals may be for 2021, start with reading the Word and putting it into action. What does that look like for you in the coming days? How might that change/challenge you in the New Year? Where is God calling you to take action and make real change in your life, in your home, and in your church?
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