Today’s Scripture: James 1-5
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Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. – John 8:32
Whenever I’m driving an automobile and I see a law enforcement officer, I slow down. It’s an automatic reaction. I may be going twenty miles per hour under the speed limit, but the sight of a cop always causes me to touch the brakes and make a quick mental inventory of any driving laws I might be breaking.
This is a strange reaction because I’m a very cautious driver. I haven’t had a traffic ticket in years. In fact, my kids call me the world’s greatest yielder. Nevertheless, the sight of a police car makes me nervous.
Now, with that in mind, take a close look at James 1:23-25:
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.
Most people do not associate law with liberty; they associate law with restrictions–just as I still do when I see a police car.
God promises a life of freedom and blessing to the person who looks into the Bible in a special way. The person who glances at the Bible quickly, occasionally, and flippantly is not the one who profits. It is the person who reads the Word carefully and who obeys it wholeheartedly.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the truth of Your Word that sets me free from the law of sin and death. Amen.
To Ponder
How would you explain Jesus’ words, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30) to the person who wants to run his own life?
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