"Listening is serious business." And we tell our children this very thing often times. "You have to listen!" Some things seem to go in one ear and out the other and we have to reiterate it to them and then they retain what is being said. We have to tell them to focus and pay attention without distraction often times telling them to put what they are doing away to listen. As children of God we have the same exact problem and must be told to listen so we may be doers of the Word of God as it resonates within us! It is more difficult to listen than to speak! Sometimes we pay attention to the Word of God as hearers and we find it has no impact or very little impact in our lives as it must. God instructs us as the Chief Shepherd of His sheep here.

To what: James is very practical. "You can talk about your faith, but SHOW ME!" Speaking about the Word of God in its impact...."Be ye DOERS!" And a doer of that work not just a doer of word says James. We are begotten of the Word of God and the result is a sanctified and holy life as we are made creatures in Christ Jesus and ordained to good works. Faith CANNOT be dead and James talks about it as it impacts our life and bears fruit! The purpose is the glory of God as He begets us and continually feeds us and leads us as the Great Shepherd in that very Word. James takes the Word of God and the law equally and takes it as the law of liberty unlike the world around us. James says that we are in FREEDOM and that those things in the world are bondage. We know God and dedicate ourselves to holiness! We are as a fish in the water but when you take that fish out of water he dies. He is happy and free in his element in which he is placed.

How: "Don't be hearers only..." It is possible to walk out of church and forget all that we heard. When we hear we see and must act and not just simply listen and forget promptly. The first thing we see is sin and the struggle of our flesh with it having only a small beginning of God. The Law of God acts as the mirror and reflects to us EXACTLY what it sees! We have to step away from the mirror of the law in order to deceive ourselves. James says "and continue in that Word of God." We need to LOOK meaning stoop down in the Word of God! The Word of God teaches us about who we are and what we struggle against being thoroughly instructed therein and James says "don't forget it is the PERFECT Law. It fits us to a perfect "T" to accomplish its purpose in both you and in me! The perfect Law of liberty that leads us all the way into GLORY!

Result: "That the man of God may be blest in his deed." It is a BLESSING! We trust and we know that it will safely lead us and it is fitting for our life being applicable for ALL of our living daily. It will NEVER put us to shame when we follow it and live it. He is our Shepherd and He leads us in the Word of God so that we are not only listeners of that Word, but DOERS of that work!