James 1:22-25 But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.… I. THE DOER. 1. Like every other practical man, he acts with a view to the attainment of some object. He acts intelligently, as a moral and responsible agent. Admitting the veracity and authority of the Word, he sets about thoroughly understanding it for one tiling, and then, guided by reason and conscience, he obeys its injunctions for another. 2. He pays strict obedience to the essential elements of active and daily engagements — earnestness, honesty, correctness, steady obedience, and watchfulness with respect to favourable opportunities. 3. There is another thing involved in the character we speak of, namely, the following of the guidance of infinite wisdom, and the being sustained by infinite power. 4. The deer of the Word fulfils his part, too, in the world of which he is an inhabitant. He is no clog on the wheel of Providence — no dead weight on the machinery of energetic and industrious employment. He does not become a fruitless and rotten branch upon the human tree; but his example is like the fresh and balmy air of the mountains, or like the blossom passing into a fuller and riper fruitfulness. But setting aside all figure, the life of such a person is a Divine purpose accomplished. II. THE NON-DOER. 1. One of the chief features of this character is indifference to the great and solemn truths of the Christian religion. 2. Another feature of this character is forgetfulness. 3. Self-deception. (W. D. Horwood.) Parallel Verses KJV: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.WEB: But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. |
    |