Christians display their genuine faith when they are learning and doing what the Bible teaches. Close examination of many professing Christians exposes what they are truly like...they talk about the Bible, they brag...they may even claim that they are qualified to teach the Bible, but the all important question is "Do they live by the Word?"
James is emphasizing HEARING and DOING God's Word. James instructs us to examine ourselves. He makes it clear that hearing alone is not enough...we must be DOers of the Word. Application of the Word involves controlling speech (the tongue), caring for the needy, and maintaining purity of life.
James' message is delivered firmly but lovingly, "My dearly beloved brothers." Three commands are explicit: 1. Be quick to hear - means to not only hear but be attentive and obey! 2. Slow to speak - don't react hastily! 3. Slow to anger. Don't harbor hatred, don't desire vengeance.
Verse 21 gives us a positive and a negative action. 1) get rid of all moral filth and evil excess. - take off the old soiled clothes of moral filth. Remove evil with its polluting effects. The positive action "receive the implanted word."
ACT OUT His Word. "keep on becoming" implies growth and development. We can be deceived and think that sitting through a Gospel presentation is receiving. Don't cheat yourself of the full, meaningful, and useful life God intends for you. Hear and ACT!
James speaks of looking into a mirror thoughtfully. You SEE your condition but turn and promptly forget what you SAW. Looking into God's Word exposes exactly our condition of behavior. It also exposes WHO WE ARE in Christ. When we behold the Word, He can and will work in and through us so that we may become by transformation all that He desires us to be. BEcoming "more of Him and less of me".
Religion conveys the sense of outward pious acts. These acts are good, but they are not enough. Acts can make us feel and think that we are spiritually sound but that is wrong.
Do I look after orphans and widows in their distress? Does my life depict personal moral purity? Do I study His Word to understand how to live as God wants? Do I study the Word with a yieldedness to translate It into my life with actions that are in accord with Its direction? Do I exhibit genuine Christianity by allowing the Lord to live out His life through me?
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