Article September 12, 1959 ISSUE

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DOING

JACK A. KRIEGER

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1: 22) is the Christian demand upon mankind today just as it was nineteen centuries ago. When James urged Christ Jesus' followers to make practical use of the Master's teaching in their daily lives, he clearly pointed out the difference between hearing the word and doing what it implied. He explained, "If any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural fate in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was."

In other words, to hear and not to do is not a sincere approach to the Master's teaching, for mere passivity never accomplishes anything in any avenue of endeavor. On the other hand, as James foretold, "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

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