Don't just listen

This week's verses continue the passage from last week: James 1:21-25:

So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does.

OK, so you've managed to start listening instead of just talking, but now what? What do you do with all of that stuff you're hearing? What about what God has told us?

In these verses, James teaches us the art of single-mindedness. He tells us to put away all filth and evil excess, and to humbly welcome the (Gospel) message planted within us. We've all heard the gospel at this point: who reads a weekly Bible study without hearing the message about Jesus? But even if not, in the west we can't escape people preaching at us with loudspeakers and pre-printed gospel tracts. So we've all heard it. The Gospel is ubiquitous.

The problem.

The problem is we all have our own systems of righteousness. This is where the filth and evil excess come in. Paul describes his religiosity as an impolite word for "filth." We can consider that that's what James is getting at here too. All of that money given to charity? Filth. All of those hours volunteered? Filth. All that virtue signaling on Facebook and Twitter? Filth. Not that those things aren't good, but if you're measuring your score by them they should go in the "filth" column.

If we're keeping score with our own systems of righteousness, it's really hard for us to grasp the Gospel message planted in us. If you don't understand grace, how are you going to live it out for others? What empathy can you have for someone who needs your forgiveness if you don't feel you've ever needed it yourself? Or what if you know your debt is paid up, but you think you paid most of it yourself?

The struggle.

James is really insistent about this point: He says not to just listen to the Gospel message without internalizing it and living it out. It's easy to watch a Christmas special or hear a message in church, and understand Jesus on an intellectual level, without necessarily realizing how it applies to you specifically. We think "Oh it's nice he did that for those other people, the people who really need it. I'm glad I tithe and buy raffle tickets and vote for the right party."

We're not supposed to just think it sounds nice. We're supposed to build our lives around it. James compares people who just listen to the message to people who see themselves in a reflection and don't really pay attention to it. They don't really know what they look like. They see a person and think "Oh that guy looks sloppy," but they don't realize "that guy" is them!

That's what we're doing when we look down on others as "sinners" who deserve judgment and don't remember that we'd be in the same boat if it wasn't for Jesus. We can't think "that guy is a mess," but then forget that we are too, or would be but for grace.

The glimmer of hope.

James says if we fix our attention on the Gospel message, and live it out, then we'll be blessed in what we do. He calls it "the perfect law of liberty." The Gospel sets us free. Not only are we no longer bound by our sin, we're not bound by the sins of others either. We don't have to be "God's cop" when we see someone doing something wrong. We don't have to hold grudges. We're off duty. We're free.

Living it.

Look at your life. Not quickly, like you're passing by a mirror on the way to something else, but intently. Stop. Is evidence of the message of grace a common thread in your life? If it was a seed planted in you, where is the leaf and the sprout? Has it taken root at all, or is something else growing in its place? Don't just listen quickly and then move on with your life. Welcome it, and live it out with your full attention.