Listen and do

After James 1:22-25 

It is a process:

the word is designed

to be heard, planted

in your hearts,

sanctifying you

over time. You

can tell if it takes

root by what you

do. Faith is not

only what you say;

faith is also what

you do. It is both

hearing and doing.

It is both believing

and doing. Neither

believing nor doing

takes priority; both

must be done. That

brings the blessing.

Listen and do.

Do and listen.

 

Photograph by Anastasiya Badun via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Paradox of the Brightening Path – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

 

The Day Death Tried to Swallow Life – Clinton Manley at Desiring God.

The great leveling

After James 1:9-11 

No one advertises this,

you won’t usually read it

or see it on a billboard,

but faith brings a great

leveling. The lowly are

lifted, the rich are reduced.

We slowly learn that

God sees all of us

the same way: a soul

that needs salvation. It’s

what we’re slowly taught,

what we slowly learn.

Position and wealth and

property and fame and 

power and reputation

are left at the door.

 

Photograph by Chris Robert via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Wherever She Goes – Melissa Edgington at Your Mom Has a Blog.

 

The Empty Promises of Sentimentalism – Tin Rosenberger at Mere Orthodoxy.

What you've learned

After Ephesians 4:17-32

What you’ve learned,

assuming you’ve heard

anything at all,

assuming you were taught

anything at all,

is this:

 

Discard the old self,

owned by the past,

corrupted by desires,

and

embrace the new self,

with renewed minds,

accepting the image

in which you were made,

for which you were meant,

the life to which you

were called, a life

of righteousness, a life

of holiness.

 

Photograph by John Schnobrich via Unsplash. Used with permission.