HEARING AND DOING THE WORD
LESSON FOR JUNIORS
Study Scripture: James 1
Lesson 10 August 8, 2020
Key Verse
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James 1: 22
INTRODUCTION
The world or the culture in which we live tells us that some ways of behaviour are good and right. There are commonly accepted and guiding principles which we are told are the best ways to behave. So there is a set of rules which we put together and call them the “psychology of human behaviour”.
The problem is that the Scriptures, the Word of God say something different from these sets of rules. Jesus tells us in the Book of James how to live in a way that will please God. We are told what Christian behaviour looks like. We are warned that any other way of living besides what Jesus advised will lead to a disastrous drop in morality and an increase in trouble in our lives.
The lifestyle of the world will bring temptation, and a person will be enticed or attracted to do things that God does not like. That is what the Bible calls sin and the Word of God tells us that sin will poison you and pollute you. It will lead to death.
The Word of God therefore tells us that there are several things of which we should be very careful. He tells us that God the Father wants us to control our speech and we are to discipline how we use our tongue. The way we live should show that we genuinely care for the people who cannot help themselves such as the poor, and helpless. The Bible generally uses a phrase to describe the helpless people and that phrase is used frequently to encourage believers to look after the “widows and orphans”.
One area that James emphasizes and speaks about a lot is the area where the tongue is used. The Word of God says that you should not use your tongue to damage other people or to hurt other people. But generally the world doesn’t care and it often encourages people to get angry at others when they do things that you do not like.
The Word of God tells you that when people get angry they look very unhappy. They shout and scream and talk in a loud voice. They look like they are going to hit another person. The angry man or woman or child look so mad that you will think that there is steam coming out of their ears just like the steam that comes out of a car’s tailpipe when the car is not working properly.
But the Word of God says that you have to make the choice as to whether you want to get angry or not. You are the only one that can decide not to make yourself angry.
Even if somebody does something to you that you do not like such as hitting you, call you a bad name, or saying something about you that is not true, or even refusing to play with you, that does not mean you have to get angry about it. There might be very many other better ways to deal with that problem
Sometimes we think that being angry is normal and natural and we must be angry at other people because that will stop them from hurting you.
But the Bible tells us that when we get angry we are actually giving people power over us, and they are deciding how we should behave. That does not make sense. We must always have a clear head so we can decide what is best for everybody. This might not be easy but remember that God the Holy Spirit is always beside you and will tell you what is best to do. But you have to control yourself and be quiet so you can hear Him speaking to you.
So the Word of God tells us that we should be “slow to anger”. We must learn to listen carefully to what others say, we should watch carefully what they are doing, and we must learn not to act fast. We must stop and think about what was really happening in the minds of the other persons who tried to do something wrong to us. When we do that we will be able to think clearly as to how we should react. We should keep the power of reacting to things firmly under our control and not under the control of other people.
So the Bible verse in chapter 1:19 says what the Lord God our Creator wants from us. God say:
“My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger”.
Remember that God loves you and He calls you, My Beloved.
His warning is that you are to listen to His words of advice and direction. He warns you that you should not only hear His words but also to do what His words tell you to do. If you do not do that you are really fooling yourself. When you fool yourself by not listening to Him or obeying Him there will be unpleasant consequences for you.
When you hear and do what the Word of God’s says, He will take you into His kingdom and you will have life without end and so live with Him throughout all eternity. If you do not control your tongue, what you say to others, and your show of anger, you are really fooling yourself and you’re only pretending to love God.
So love God and love other people. Make sure you do what He says so that you will live with Him. He will protect you and lead you in “green pastures” throughout your life. Psalm 23 tells you the LORD is your Shepherd. It will help you to read this Psalm often. It will help to calm you down.
With Him there will be unimaginable pleasures forever.