How’s my ‘Do’?

As a lady, I tend to gravitate to hairstyle magazines and blogs-I see so many that are stylish and trendy and wonder if I could really pull it off.  Of course, I am not bold enough to go too short and I have not the patience to allow it to grow, hence, I am stuck with a similar hairstyle each visit to the salon.  And that is fine with me…at least I am predictable, right?!

Unfortunately, I find myself in that same rut in a spiritual sense.  James 1:22 tells us “But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”  Hearing the Word yet leaving it unfulfilled is like going to the salon with a picture and an idea in mind, yet leaving with only a trim of the same style I walked in with.  Too many times we think that our church attendance is our ‘doing’- not so, not so!  Our church attendance is nothing more than the ‘hearing’ aspect of that verse.  We must ask ourselves, “What are we doing outside of these four walls?”

Take a look at these verses:

Luke 6:46 “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

John 13:17 “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

Wow.  That can be a tough pill to swallow.  It’s easy to get caught up in our ‘ought to’s’ to justify our lack of ‘should do’s’.  There comes a time when one must evaluate his or her service to Christ-does it ever leave the walls of our church?  If not, then it cannot be counted as service.  It’s a great time to think about mission trips, community outreaches, or volunteering our time and resources so that we might be His hands and feet.  There are plenty of men and women in our nursing homes that could use a visit and a word of prayer.  There are soup kitchens that need an extra hand.  Let us remember that while Jesus was here on earth, the majority of His time was spent in the ‘highways and hedges’, if you will, to reach those in need.

Just for today, why not surprise yourself and try on a new spiritual ‘do’?