James 1:22 (NLT)

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

You may attend a great church…sit under the teaching of a great preacher…attend a weekly bible study…listen to Christian radio…and diligently do your morning devotionals…but if you don’t DO what you the Scriptures tell you to DO, you are living a lie. You are a fool.

The great bible commentator, Oswald Chambers, once said, “One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.” Think about that for a moment. God is not impressed with your depth of biblical knowledge unless it is accompanied by obedience. Jesus said, “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Mt 12:50). He also said, “If you love me, keep my commands” (Jn 14:15). Knowledge is great, but obedience is better.

I shudder to think that everything I have learned about the Word of God is utterly useless if it is not accompanied by obedience, but that is exactly what James is saying. In fact, the more you know of God’s Word, the more obedient you should be! That being said, we all need to heed the warning of this verse: if you know but do not do, you are just fooling yourself. You may have a lot of good “bible stuff” in that head of yours, but wherever your life shows disobedience, that “good stuff” has become utterly worthless. Don’t be a fool…be a follower.