We’ve all said or heard something like this: “I know you hear me, but are you listening?” The way we know whether what was said has been taken to heart is by how a person’s actions change (or don’t). James warns us that sometimes we hear what God says (in Bible reading, sermons, etc.) but we don’t respond accordingly. In this passage, he calls us to show we’re listening by how we live (v. 22).

One way we show we’re listening is how we deal with anger. When we respond in anger we often say or do things we wish we hadn’t but can’t take back, and as James says “man’s anger does not produce the righteousness of God” (v. 20). 

In fact, we are to live in a “righteous” way in every area of life, a way that lines up with what God is like and how he acts toward us (v. 21a). Putting away “filthiness” and “rampant wickedness” (v. 21). Offering pure worship by reflecting God’s Fatherly love as we care for the “orphan and widow” and keep ourselves “unstained from the world” (v. 27). 

We live this way by “receiving the implanted word” (v. 21b)—the same Gospel through which God saves us (v. 17). We “receive” at our conversion, and as we return again and again to hear, meditate on, and rejoice in the Good News that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. 

The Christian life is like an engine, meant to run on a specific type of fuel, and the Gospel is our fuel. When we remember what God says about us in the Gospel, his love fills our hearts, strengthens us, and motivates us to do what he commands in the law (v. 25). We are empowered to show we’re listening by how we live.

Questions: 

1. How will you let God fuel you through the Gospel this week?
2. Where do you need to show you’re listening by how you live?