“Hearing and Doing”
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” James 1:22-24 (ESV)
“Hearing, But Not Doing”
In 1986, I was in a car accident where the impact crushed my left humerus. To say this was painful is an understatement. I had two surgeries where pins and clamps were placed in two different areas to hold the pieces of my bone together, so healing could begin.
Next, I had to go home and do physical therapy several times a week. My arm had been in a sling, at a 90 degree angle, for weeks. So the physical therapist’s job was to get it stronger and to straighten my arm completely back out. This was such a grueling hour out of my day. Each time the PT cupped her hand around my elbow and slowly began lowering my forearm, I felt like my muscles were being ripped and pulled. I dreaded each time so much. As time went by, I began to do this technique on my own and then lied to my mom when she asked me if I had done my therapy yet.
“The Consequence”
So guess what happened? My arm never fully straightened out and the last few years, I noticed the muscle in my forearm, getting smaller. So years later, in August of 2019, I was brushing my hair and getting ready for school, when I noticed my index finger would not work like it normally did. I could move it down, but not up. I went to the doctor and after tests were done, I was told I have muscle atrophy. So years of not using my arm like I should have been using it, made it weaker over time. It never got back to the strongest it could be because I didn’t do what I knew I should have been doing.
You see, I heard my mom, doctor, and physical therapist tell me what was needed to do in order for my arm to heal and get stronger, but I chose not to do it. How many of us read what the bible says, know what to do, but make the choice not to do it? We all have struggles in life and times we walk through places we don’t want to be. It is so important to do more in our life than just know things, but do them.
“Hearing and Doing”
I will never forget the moment in the hospital with Jacob. When we were left alone with him for the first time It just about broke me. He was hooked up to so many things and unconsciously just laying there. . God laid on my heart that day to do what the bible says. He laid on my heart to trust him, have faith, and to believe I have received a miracle already. Also i was to trust His timing. You see, it wasn’t enough just to know this, but I had to walk it out daily and do what God’s word says.
If we remember verse 23 of James 1 and be a doer and not just a hearer, everything won’t break us. Don’t let life’s curveballs cause you react in ways that do not line up with what the bible says. His word tells us how we should handle the things thrown at us. Hearing and doing gives you an experience like no other. It is a closeness with the Lord, and a peace we all want and desperately need.
Counting My Blessings,
Susan Browder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JK_6osCH74 Word of God Speak
