Walk the Talk

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 his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But a 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

There is nothing worse than hypocrisy. It is crucial that we do our best to live what we profess. When we fail to do this, we are talking out of both sides of our mouths. The sad thing about living a double-life is that we stop people from coming to Christ. When people see us on Sunday preaching against adultery and we are right smack in the middle of the behavior all other days of the week, they laugh behind our backs and we make a mockery of our God. But the Bible tells us not to be deceived and that God cannot be mocked. Whatever we sow, we will surely reap. Anyone who sows to please his or her sinful flesh, from that same flesh will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:7-8). It does not matter how crafty we are, we can never be successful in fooling the Lord. People may look at you and think you are the best thing since sliced bread but God knows and sees the real you. He can see right through you to your heart. You may look like the perfect Christian and smell like a Christian; park your body religiously in a pew every Sunday but if you are not practicing what you are preaching, you are being a hypocrite. Unfortunately, God is not looking at how you look, what you wear or how many scriptures you quote. He is looking deep into your heart to see what it is you truly believe.

It is not enough to be mere hearers of the Word of God, we need to be doers. We need to get our actions in line with what we claim to believe. If we are truly born again and have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our attitude and way of life needs to reflect our faith. The more we study the Bible, the more our minds are transformed. We’ve all heard that “As a man thinks in his heart so is he” so the more we learn about God, the more our thought process changes and we start to think like God thinks. Every action is preceded by a thought. If we can change the way we think with the word of God, we can change our lives for the better.