Action is Required.

I was listening to someone talk about Christians the other day. Unfortunately the conclusion of the discussion ended with this thought: Christians are so apathetic.

We love the Word, we love hearing awesome speakers, we love getting together to discuss what we learn -- but we lack the motivation to do anything as a result of truth. This is why Jesus' words concluding the Sermon on the Mount were so powerful to me. Not only does Jesus demand that we hear His Word, but that we must act on what we have heard.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall." (Matt. 7:24-27 NASB)

If we would only follow our Master's example. He did not recline in heaven watching as we drifted further and further into destruction. He acted. He stepped into our story -- He became our story -- and changed the world forever. His action should motivate us to act on His words.

Why don't we act? I can only speak for myself: I hear His words -- and they are good -- but the action (or lack thereof) silently proves that either I don't believe Him to be true, or that I value my own opinion and complacently more than His demands. Both options are sinful -- and the result, as Jesus said, is destruction.

"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. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:22-25 ESV)

So ... what action is God requiring you to take? What has He spoken to you? Have you heard His words and failed to move? Are you adding to the library of knowledge and failing to exercise application? These are the questions I ask myself today.