Thursday, March 17, 2011

Connections

Last Monday at our Circles bible study, we read James 1:19-26. We had a great discussion and it got me really thinking about it.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does."
James 1:22-25

I am going through the Gospels right now. I was reading Matthew 15 that night when something really connected with the message in James we discussed that night.

"'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Matthew 15:8

We can't just listen to the word. We have to DO what it says. That means we can't just honor God with our lips. We have to DO what it says. Our hearts can be so far from God that once we look in the mirror and walk away, we forget who we are in Christ. We become someone that other people want us to be. We need to listen to the word and DO what it says because if we do, we will be blessed in what we do.

13 comments:

  1. love that the monday night group is becoming such an awesome thing :) circles in action.

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  2. indeed. great truth in your words sista :)
    I pray that we, sisters in Christ, can continue to fathom the relationship between deeds and faith. May His simple Truth and our faith in it, ignite us into action.

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  3. so sweet! so often we are lulled into seasons of inaction but that is exactly the opposite of what the Gospel calls us to. His word must spur us into action and into love. thanks for this reminder!

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  4. It's amazing the way the Word lives, the way the Spirit brings it to life for us, making this ancient manuscript something real and practical and personal for us. What a disservice we do to this living word to let it die in our hearts the moment after we've read it. It must live in us spurring us to action. Only then are we Troy honoring the Word.

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  5. you are absolutely correct my friend! the Word is our blueprint for the way we should live as followers of Jesus. It would be like building a house, looking at the blueprint, and then deciding to build the house your own way, not the way the blueprint says. The result: a very shady house.

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  6. I am sad that I missed this discussion on Monday! Thanks for the reminder though...especially in Matthew...it's a convicting thing to think about what my heart is saying versus what is coming out of my mouth...I tend to forget that at times!

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  7. Thanks so much for this much needed reminder. It is amazing how often we just look in the mirror and walk away unchanged. Glad we have others like Circles to push eachother to continue to look in the mirror, and not just walk away, but remember. Glad you were able to be there! Hope all is well and life isn't too crazy. Praying for you!

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  8. This is such a good reminder. I feel as a group we have started to encourage one another to be doers of His word which has been so amazing! I hope we can continue to encourage one another in this. Thanks for sharing :)

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  9. this made me think of darin talking about his response to different bosses and leadership styles. Jesus laid down all the luxuries of Heaven and became a man to go through everything I will or could potentially go through to lead me in my relationship with God. like darin and his bosses, in return I can't think of anything He would ask me to do that i couldn't/wouldn't do. when i read the Bible i'm brought to a posture of how much can i give/do?

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  10. "we forget what we are in Christ" ahhh me so easily!!! thank you for this. : ) and happy birthday week!!!!

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  11. Love the connection! and glad to see God moving through you in Circles and everything :)

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  12. so awesome when scripture sinks in and changes us and how we live!!!

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