But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)

The Importance Of The Doers

God has given the world a written testimony of the divine plan of salvation. There has never been a time the Lord has not revealed Himself through special revelation. In the early days of the world, God spoke directly to man (Noah, Abraham, Moses). To the Jewish nation, God revealed the Law of Moses through the Holy Spirit, which was written in a book and read to the people. After Jesus came and fulfilled His ministry, the Holy Spirit inspired men to write accounts of the life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the history of the early church (Acts), and letters and epistles written by early disciples (Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John).

The divine plan of God was to give the world a completed revelation of the word of God, which was fulfilled when the final canon of holy scripture was finished in the sixty-six books of the Bible. Everything man needed to know and understand the will of God for salvation was found within the pages of the Bible. Stories of faith, lessons of truth, examples of the goodness and wrath of God, the failures of people and nations, victories of the faithful, the life of Jesus, and how the early church completed the plan of God all make up the final volume of divine truth. The Bible is the most published book in the history of the world. It is read by billions of people each year.

Ironically, the Bible is the most widely read book in the world and the least understood. The challenge has always been not the reading of the book, but the doing of the message it contains. While there is great importance given to reading and hearing the words of Christ fill the pages of the Bible, the Holy Spirit declares that hearing the word of God without doing the word of God is of little value. It is easy to hear the word and walk away without making application and putting forth the effort to allow the words to change the heart. Many people spend the year reading the Bible with little effort at application. That is hearing without doing.

A hallmark of spiritual growth is when the heart hears the word of God and commits to doing what it says. The importance of doing what the word says underscores the message’s purpose. God did not give the world the Bible just to read. The divine word of God was given to man to show him what he must do to be saved; with emphasis on the doing. Faith alone cannot save a single soul. James declares that faith requires works in the sense that hearing without doing is empty. The devil is not worried about those who hear the word of God if they never do anything about what they read. He is more concerned about those folks who decided to do what God says. Hearing and doing pleases God, but hearing and not doing pleases Satan.

Salvation is offered through Jesus Christ, who gave His life to redeem sinful man. He not only believed in the word of His Father, but He did the will of His Father. Jesus taught that many people will claim to be followers of God but will not be saved because they did not do the will of the Father. The importance of doing God’s will must be emphasized for the sake of salvation. Hearing brings one to the word of God and doing to the throne of salvation. James’ admonition is clear: hear the word of God but be doers of the word of God. Hearing only deceives the heart because faith without works is dead. A man is justified by works, and not by faith only.