Read:  James 1:19-27

In the news recently there was a story about a woman in Santa Rosa, California who was trying to sue Dr. Pepper because she did not lose weight.  This woman had been drinking Diet Dr. Pepper for 13 years in hopes that it would make her lose weight. When it didn’t she sued the company for deceptive advertising.  A three judge panel thankfully dismissed her suit. It makes you wonder if this lady exercised or ate a healthy diet while drinking her Diet Dr. Pepper.

In the book of James we read about the importance of putting our words and our learnings from God’s Word into practice in our everyday lives.  Knowing what the Bible says and learning from it’s words is an important part of every Christian’s life. But if we don’t put those words into action they will mean very little in our day to day witness and interactions with others.  Along with listening to the wisdom of God we must also put that wisdom into action.

Verses 22 and 23 of James 1 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”  The expectation of learning from Jesus and the Word of God is that we will become active in living his example out in the world. Helping the orphans, widows, poor, and those in distress is how faith gets put into action. (v.27)

The woman in California apparently is expecting something for nothing.  She wants to lose weight but she wants to blame diet drinks for not succeeding instead of taking other steps herself.   The news article also mentioned that she had sued Diet Coke with the same accusation. If we expect the good news of the gospel to make a difference in the world we need to put our faith into action.

Make it Personal:  How many times do we expect others to do what we ourselves need to do?  When the reading of God’s word prompts you to action take the steps to do what the Holy Spirit is leading you to do and don’t wait on someone else to do it.  God spoke to you for a reason.