October 02, 2025 | Be God's Family
Do What It Says
Scripture: James 1:19-25(NIV)
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Devotional
When I was a little girl, my family lived on my grandfather’s farm in southern Illinois. During the summer we attended Vacation Bible School at the little country church down the road from our house. Each day we sang “Be Ye Doers of the Word” (B.B.McKinney). The singing sessions were my favorite part. Afterwards, we would have cookies and Kool-Aid outside by the big oak trees in the church’s yard. I often think of those lyrics to that song when I read the book of James:
Out of James one twenty-two
Comes a call for Juniors true.
Who will live for Christ the risen Lord:
Listen to this trumpet call
Ringing out to one and all,
Be ye doers of the Word…
Even though the book of James was written many years ago, its message still reminds us of our need to read the Bible intently, listen to God speaking to us through His Word, and willingly obey His teachings.
In verse 22, James teaches us to “not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves,” but also “do what it says.” God tells us that “anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (25-26).
If we willingly want to be like Jesus, in addition to reading and studying the Bible, we need to obey the Word of God. Without this obedience, James says we are just deceiving ourselves. “When we say we believe one thing but don’t act upon it, it’s really like we don’t believe it at all. Plain and simple, it is not enough just to hear God’s Word…we are in fact blessed when we do the Word” (fbcbartow.org).
As the song asks: do we strive to live for Christ? Give our time and talents to serve others? Follow Jesus all the way? Work, pray, and sing for the Master every day? Be kind to others? Be like Jesus? The final stanza summarizes our call to be doers of the Word:
Let us serve with all our might;
Let us stand for truth and right,
Always living for the risen Lord…
Be ye doers of the Word.
So, how can we be doers of the Word today?
Poem
Instruction To A Child
Proverbs 16
Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.
Proverbs 16:20
Child—
A Goofus forgets
All instruction
A Goofus trades
Virtue for sin
A Goofus yields to
Great temptation
A Goofus has
No reins within
A Gallant one
Listens intently
Then follows the
Wisdom of God
A Gallant one
Yields to the chastening
A Gallant one
Fears not the rod
