Just Do It

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at this face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1: 22-25

 

Have you ever done this?  Have you ever listened to or read the word of God, then walked away and not remembered what you heard or read?  Or even worse, have you walked away remembering what you heard or read yet didn’t act on it?  Unfortunately I have.  Why do we do that?  Why do we look at ourselves in the mirror then walk away and forget what we look like?  It makes the first action pointless.  If I’m just going to forget what I look like as soon as I walk away, why do I even look in the mirror in the first place.  If you’re going to walk away from God’s word without applying it to you life, than it’s pointless to read in the first place.  Man that’s convicting!!

 

So why do we do this?  Is it because we don’t believe what we read?  Is it that we don’t think that it really means what it says?  Is it that we are just lazy?  Are we just too comfortable with where we are?  I think that for most of us it’s just easier to ignore.  If we actually apply the word to our lives than that means we’re going to have to change.  There are old habits that we need to break and new habits that we have to start, and that hurts sometimes.  The awesome thing is that if are willing to die to ourselves, to face the pain and undergo the change, we will be better for it. 

 

I love football.  I love everything about football.  I am a diehard 49ers fan (keep your comments to yourself) and grew up watching Jerry Rice catch touchdown after touchdown.  Did he get to be the best wide receiver ever by listening to the coaches then forgetting what they said?  Did he get there by going to the gym and watching other people work out?  Early in his career was he content sitting on the bench while others played the game?  No, he wasn’t!  People that knew him said that his work out regiment was the most difficult they had ever seen.  After Jerry retired, a young pro-bowl running back went to work out with him, and said he could not keep up with Jerry and that after the work out his body was “killing him.”  But that’s the point of working out, you break down the muscle (and it hurts), but then it grows back and you are stronger. 

 

In the football game of life don’t be content sitting on the bench.  Train, listen to the coaches, improve, so that when the game is over you will be on the field and playing for the winning team.    For years Nike used the slogan “Just Do It,” their point was to get off the bench and into the game.  James said the same thing two thousand years ago.  “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.”