But be doers of the Word (obey the message), and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves (into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth). James 1:22 (AMPC)
Doer: it’s a word that has been popping up a lot recently in my daily readings. Am I merely a listener or an active doer? Am I internalising its meaning and actively obeying it? Another translation puts it:
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! James 1:22 (MSG)
The same challenge arose in Luke 6:49:
But he who merely hears and does not practice doing My words is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, against which the torrent burst, and immediately it collapsed and fell, and the breaking and ruin of that house was great. Luke 6:49 (AMPC)
The word “merely” confronted me again as I glanced up the page in my Bible to Luke 6:32:
If you (merely) love those who love you, what quality of credit and thanks is that to you? Luke 6:32 (AMPC)
Am I merely loving the lovable? Am I merely loving those who return love? Am I selective in whom I love? As a modern translation phrases it:
If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that… Luke 6:32 (MSG)
And in a similar vein it appears in 1 John 3:18:
Little children, let us not love (merely) in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity). 1 John 3:18 (AMPC)
Am I just talking about love or actually putting it into practice? As the Living Bible puts it:
Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (TLB)
Do not merely listen. Do not merely love.