11 March 2012
Steve Grant
James 1:19-21
“Lord, speak to me - You have 60 seconds!”
Sounds funny, but unfortunately that’s exactly how many people in church treat the Word of God. Everybody hears but very few listen. Little wonder then that so many of us live woefully impotent lives. For the Word of God, which is sharper than a two-edged sword, doesn’t really get through to us. But is that the fault of the Word or the preacher? According to James, we need to focus the spotlight inwards to examine ourselves.
Here he highlights 3 prerequisites for Christians to be able to receive the Word of God and correctly respond to it. Therefore these two verses hold the key to passages later on where James lays down the need for being doers of the Word (not just hearers). Of course, this was given to the early church, however the principles are still true today.
This message of developing a ‘Biblical listening attitude’ is one that every Christian needs to hear. Because in order to become doers we first need to be good listeners. Only then can the Word permeate our beings and transform us from the inside.