5. Commit yourself to hear and heed, understand and obey, what you encounter in the Bible.
James’ powerful reminder that we are to be doers, and not merely hearers, of God’s word (James 1:22) must be central in our thinking every day as we read the Scriptures. Since we are not our own, since we’ve been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19–20), we must acknowledge we are under the lordship of our Savior Jesus every day, in every way possible.
Therefore, to read the word of God is to submit ourselves to that which declares how we are to live day by day. Let’s resist the temptation to have minds growing in the knowledge of God’s word that nonetheless fail to live out the truth of what we have come to know. Again, we are changed in our behavior not merely in what we know, but in what we love and hate, in what we cherish or despise. God intends his truth to travel first into our heads, then to our hearts, and then, from our hearts through our hands. We are called by God to hear and heed, to understand and then to obey, the glorious life-giving word he’s given to us.
