CounterfeitSample

Written by Matthew, age 15, from Sanford, FL 

Have you ever had a friend or leader who told you not to do something, and the very next thing they do is the thing they told you never to do? Did you lose respect for that person? In life we tend to shy away from, or dislike, leaders who just tell us things we should do, or who make rules to follow, without modeling them themselves. I know, for me at least, I tend to follow leaders who follow the rules they set for others.

This is what James is talking about when he says we can’t just read and listen to the Bible and what God says in it. We must do just as it says, or else we are fooling ourselves. If we aren’t practicing the things we learn in the Bible, then we are not actually learning anything or growing. To truly learn and be more like Jesus, we must take the things we learn and read in the Bible and live them out in our lives. This is what makes our faith more real.

Our actions can grow our faith. That’s why I challenge you this upcoming week to follow and practice the two greatest commandments Jesus laid out for us: to love and pursue God through reading the Bible and practicing the things we learn in it, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

What is one way you can love your neighbor this week?