For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
James 1:23-25
So, what does this mean to be a, doer of the word, and not a, hearer, only? This was written, it is believed by Jesus’ brother James who became a believer after Christ’s ascension. Here James is bothered by the observation that many of the people in the new church did not seem the least bit changed in behavior after accepting the beliefs of the church. Does this sound familiar? Do people who even claim to be, believers, act no different than anyone else. Perhaps they even go to church, listen to the sermon, read a Bible once in a while, but they still act like anyone else. They may get angry, scream, holler, certainly not behave like they have any faith that God is living in them, that all things are possible, or act like their, love, is any different. Perhaps, they see others suffering but pay no attention. They may think, get a job you worthless bum! This is what was bothering James, that the folks who were supposed to be filled with the love of God did not seem motivated. He went on to say this:
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble.
What he is clearly saying is at some point we have to put our faith and love into some sort of action, not just sit blissfully on the mountain top. For love demands action. My father, who was the illumined minister, who was the inspiration for starting this blog and writing the book entitled, The Realm, said this in his old notes:
Love is the only thing which grows the more you give it away.
This too, was from his writings. The only way we can experience the fulfillment of the self is by meeting the needs of others. We must forget the “me” and center our attention, our love, which is God on, “them”. If we set out in life to uplift our fellow man in any manner, in food, clothing, education, freedom, employment, etc., our self needs are met without any thought or effort on, “our own behalf”. We don’t express God by being self-centered. We express God only through concern for and contact with our brother. Our God awareness joins with their, his or her, God awareness. We must lose ourselves to find ourselves.
How can we say we are one of God’s own when all we do is think of and work toward self-fulfillment? God is Love. Love is a verb. Christ presupposed we love our self when He gave the greatest commandment of all. Love God with all of your being and the second, Love your neighbor as yourself. Christ didn’t go into long details about loving yourself. He presupposed this fact. If you love God you have to Love yourself. Why? Because you are God’s creation, therefore you are God -one with God – and if you love God, Jesus presupposed you love yourself. So, we are told to love our neighbor as we Love our self. Our oneness with God, our self which is made in God’s image. If we accept this “self-God-image” then we don’t worry about our daily existence. Because we are one with God and God cannot fail, be miserable etc. The only time we fail is when we negate we are God or one with God. Then we fail, not God thru Christ.
We must accept this fact, that we are one with God, and quit wasting anymore time in doing the will of God. Love is a verb, an action word. Love cannot be verbalized it must be used, put into play. We don’t sit and pray or sit and say I feel love for my neighbor. We don’t feel love, we do love. We must be generous with our love. Love is the only thing that grows as you give it away. Love is the only thing that the more you give it, the more you have of it. Until you love, you can’t love.
This is, being a, doer of the word, which includes the assurance that your deed will be blessed. When we love others and “do”, for them, helping, inspiring or simply loving, putting the word, which is God’s supernatural spiritual power in motion, Jesus who was the word in the flesh as the apostle John said, working through us, fills us with the very love of God. For God is Love, in you, and you, in God, one.
Until next time, be blessed! Realize, you are the light of the world, the very hands of God!
The Realm by Daniel Mears 