Welcome Back to the Godly Woman Diaries! If you have been following along in my fall series and follow me on Instagram, you know I started leading a Bible study. Within that, I wanted to start this spring series called, “The Godly Woman.”
This week, I am covering the Being a Doer of the Word.
Do you ever take your car in for a tune up or an alignment?
If so, you know that it is usually expensive if you wait too long. That’s also how it is when you read God’s word, come to church, go to Bible Study, or volunteer but fail to bring your life into alignment with the Word to do what it says. The more your life is spent not aligning yourself to the Word of God, the longer it’ll take to bring it back into alignment. Another good Word for alignment is submission. Usually people have a negative association with submission. But submission to God is so incredibly different than submission to anything else.
Submission to God brings freedom that only Christ brings us. There is no other freedom that can compare to it. It frees us from the yoke of slavery to sin to now become slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:18). For whatever we are a slave to has mastered us (2 Peter 2:19-20). When we become slaves to righteousness our lives will change. We may not always do what we should but we will love God so much that we desire to bring our lives into obedience through submitting to His word.
As we submit, we realize our old self is gone and our new self has come. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
And as a new creation, we bring our lives into yoke with our new master – Jesus. But how do we do it? The bible is vast and can sometimes feel overwhelming. Well, when you start to build a house, you start at the foundation. So that’s where we start this week, the foundation of Christ through the Word.
Christ as a Foundation
First, when we read Matthew 5:24-27 we realize our lives must be built on Jesus and on the Word. When the storms come and the winds blow, our house stands strong and our faith is firm. But it’s firm only when we put the Word into practice. It’s like saying you love being in shape but you never work out or eat right. Like any habit, the proof is in the pudding. While we aren’t saved by works (James 2), we must “exercise” by knowing the Word and then obeying it – or it won’t be our foundation. Other things we practice will be our foundation. That’s the only way our house can stay strong. Otherwise, we are “like a foolish man who built his house on sand”, where it blows down in a small storm.
Be a Doer – See, Listen, & Obey
James 1:22-25 puts it simply that even a child can understand it – don’t just listen – obey. Be a Doer of the Word. It gives the analogy of looking into a mirror and forgetting what you look like. Why on earth or how on earth could you do that? The same idea is for the Word. The other verse that you should notice is verse 25, “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
See. Listen. Obey.
Once we see, listen, and obey, our hearts will become more and more tender toward God’s leading and we will submit more and more of our life over to Him. While we can be saved immediately, our lives coming into submission to God isn’t an overnight process. I would encourage you that if you are struggling to obey, remind yourself of God’s grace that is sufficient. “His power is made perfect in your weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Now how do we know how tender our heart is right at this very moment? Let’s take a look at the Parable of the Sower.
Parable of the Sower
After reading Luke 8:1-18, you’ll see that Jesus compares our hearts to the soil of which can be absorb the seed (the Word).
- Hard ground: Prevents the seed from sprouting
- Rocky ground: The seed germinates but doesn’t take root
- Thorny ground: The seed grows but is choked by thorns
- Good ground: The seed produces much fruit
When we see what kind of soil we are, we can start to bring into submission the areas of our lives we are struggling to obey. Some might be more obvious.
But based on the soils above, which are less obvious?
Take note that it’s not always our entire heart – that is where we may miss the point. We all have areas our lives where these soils may exist. Our entire heart doesn’t have to be calloused for us to be disobedient and hardened.
When our ground is hardened in an area of our life, we usually are wanting validation from either God or others for our sin. We may hear it but we aren’t truly listening.
The rocky ground is when we hear the word but after a time of testing or trial, we stop relying on the Word and trusting God.
The thorns are worries in our lives and if they aren’t rooted out and pulled regularly by reading, listening, and doing the Word, we will struggle to stand firm.
Finally, when our soil is good (which is also synonymous with Genesis 1 and repeated various times by God), we produce much fruit. This fruit is “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).
That is the key to good soil – repent from those areas of our lives where the “old” is still clinging to us. Repent can be seen as negative but really it’s the same as the tune up in the car – God tunes us. But we don’t just repent once – we do it daily, hourly even at times during a hard season of our lives. Repentance means that when God tunes us we don’t go running through pot holes, driving over rocky roads, speeding on ice, and crashing into random objects. We obey God.
We see, listen, and obey.
Lamp on a Stand
The last verses (Luke 8:15-18) are not from the Parable of the Sower but they build on the idea that when we see, listen, and obey, we will be a light to others. And we don’t hide our light – we stand on the table to illuminate the darkness that surrounds us and others.
The verse we must remember is that “Consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”
This means that how we listen matters. And when we truly listen, God will share more with us. But we must to apply what we hear to gain more knowledge of Jesus. Otherwise if we don’t daily seek him, we will lose even the small knowledge we have.
Again, we circle back to the tune up. This time we’ll use the house since we built on the right foundation. Even with the right foundation, maintenance is required. If you don’t paint regularly, don’t protect your plants or pipes from freezing weather, don’t wash the windows, and don’t repair when there is flood damage, your house will start to fall apart. It’ll happen slowly over each unfixed repair, but it will gradually happen. It’s the same with Jesus.
Jesus is your builder. He is how your house stays standing, providing all you need to keep your house in its most pristine condition. At times, He is even gracious enough to offer you upgrades. And apart from Him, your life would crumble and your spiritual house would fall into disrepair.
And so with that, I encourage you that even if your life is in obedience, there is more you can do to follow Jesus. Jesus always has more to offer you. But the greatest gift he offers is himself. If you aren’t living in obedience, you can start now in this very moment. God forgives in abundance and He loves you too much to leave you where you are.
Reverence for Christ
The one note I wanted to touch on in being a Doer of the Word is why we do it. We don’t have to do it. We can listen and not obey. But we circle the same mountains over and over again like the Israelites in the wilderness if we don’t obey (Deuteronomy 2:1-5). There is so much blessing that God wants to give us. But He can’t truly give it to us if we aren’t willing to submit those out of tune areas to His word. He wants so much freedom for us – His desire is to take our yoke and make it easy and light. He doesn’t desire us to walk this earth searching for things outside of Him to satisfy us.
He wants us to obey because obedience is what truly brings us freedom.
Like we read in James 1:25, “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
It feels counterintuitive to what the world tells us – it tells us do whatever we want and chase happiness. But our happiest moments are not here on this earth. Our happiest moment is when we see Christ face to face and are with him forever in heaven.
As Christian women, we must remember that this isn’t our true home and like Abraham we are wanders here and tent dwellers – just waiting to see heaven. We shift our perspective not in self-righteousness or for works, but because those who Christ sets free are free indeed (John 8:36).
Homework: Practice the area you are struggling to obey and find a trusted friend to hold you accountable.
I pray today as you read the Word that it strengthens you to keep going. If you are lacking, I pray God supplies all you need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. I pray he gives you all you need to obey His word. I pray He shows you the smallest blessing as you begin to obey His word. I pray He carries you as you grow stronger in His word and that it blessings your life with the fullness in Christ.