What is the greatest value of knowing God’s Word?

Where is James coming from?

James is speaking from a heart filled with deep love and tender affection for his readers.

● Eager to hear: The starting point for becoming and learning to live like Jesus is being eager to know God’s Word.

● Slow to speak: Being more eager to speak than to hear prevents us from ever getting a start on living like Jesus.

● Slow to anger: anger: desire as in excitedly reaching out or an excited state of mind; violent passion. James is telling them not to respond impulsively or to not let their uninformed thoughts get them so excited that they jump the gun and act in ignorance.

Living life with impulsive, thoughtless actions and words doesn’t lead to living life with God for the good of others.

The first action step we should practice is setting aside patterns of living that we know don’t fit the new life God has for us.

Prove means for something to come into existence, to begin to or to become.

Become a person whose knowledge of God’s word leads to doing what the word teaches us to do as opposed to one who is merely (only or alone) a hearer of the word.

One who is only a hearer of God’s word, never acting on it, is like a person who clearly sees his face in mirror and then, as soon as he walks away, he totally forgets what he saw and came to know about what he looks like.

The outcome of peering into and lingering over God’s word, taking it to heart and living in light of it is absolutely beautiful and more desirable than many people will ever realize.

This kind of religion is not merely known or intellectual in nature. It is visible. It looks like this – looking after those among you who have no one else to look after and care for them.

This week come up with a plan that will allow you to read the book of Colossians. It is four chapters long but divide it up however works best for you. You can divide it up so you read all four chapters from Monday through Friday or Monday through Sunday. Pick whatever fits your life this week but make a commitment to read it all.

Before you read each day, take time to read over and take in the message of Hebrews 4:12. Read with this reality in mind.

As you read, notice anything God’s Word reveals to you about the condition of your soul, the true condition of your life. Be open to God helping you to see where your life is out of sync with the life He has for you. When you see something like that, take a second to write it down.

At the end of the reading of Colossians pick one thing you came to see about yourself that you can agree with God needs to change because there is truly a better way to live. Notice how that change will be of great benefit to you but also how it will be of great benefit to others you interact with. Learning to live life like Jesus lived His, ultimately becoming more like Jesus, always has this tremendously positive dual impact on you and others around you.

This is where we implement spiritual disciplines or a soul training exercise as we seek to adjust our lives to the life God has for us. This is what a soul training exercise does. It leads us to live more like Jesus lived as it shapes our inner person to become more and more like the person of Jesus. If you need help coming up with a soul training exercise that would help please ask for help. There are many people willing and ready to help you in this way. You can call the church office and we will connect you with someone or you can email at pastor@cbctopeka.com.