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“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” -Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV)
“Change or Die”
Nearly twenty years ago, Alan Deutschman published an article (and later a book) with the provocative title “Change or Die.” His central argument was that most people who are forced to choose between life and death will choose death— if choosing life requires significant changes to their status quo.
Here’s an example of what he’s talking about. Each year there are roughly 1.5 million people who undergo heart bypass surgery, and many of those patients are able to experience a full recovery—if they make significant changes to their diet and exercise habits.
But 90% of them refuse to change, even though staying the same will slowly kill them.
Thom Rainer talks about this principle in his book Anatomy of a Revived Church. Here’s the key paragraph from his discussion of the Change-or-Die phenomenon:
“Individuals and organizations do not lack the resources, knowledge, and information to survive; they simply do not choose to make the changes that are clear and available. When confronted with the choice to change or die, they choose to die.” -Thom Rainer, Anatomy of a Revived Church, p. 3-4.
Don’t Just Listen… Do What it Says.
James doesn’t quite use the phrase “change or die” in the Bible, but he does talk about how important it is to take clear and decisive action when we are confronted with difficult truths in God’s Word. Here’s what he says in James 1:22-24:
“22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 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.” (NIV)
The problem with the 90% who refused to change wasn’t a lack of knowledge. It was a lack of follow through. Sometimes Christians make the same mistake. They have all kinds of knowledge about who God is and what he desires for our lives, but very little follow through. James is reminding us that knowledge alone doesn’t do us much good—as least not as much as we’d like to think.
That’s because God’s Word is designed to change us from the inside out. Not just a change in what we know, but a change in how we live.
Hear and Obey
Did you know that in the Old Testament, the same word that means “listen” also means “obey?” The Hebrew word Shema can mean all of the following, based on the context:
To hear
To listen
To understand
To obey
James is trying to show us how little sense it makes to hear the word without really understanding it and putting it into practice. How can you shema the Word of God without shema-ing the Word of God? In other words, how can you listen to it without actually putting it into practice? Those ideas were never meant to be separated, and yet there are plenty of Christians who excel in knowledge but lag in obedience.
The Bible is a Mirror
“We don’t read the Bible, the Bible reads us.” -David Paul Kirkpatrick
James uses a really creative analogy to describe what’s happening when we listen to God’s Word without following through. It’s like a person who looks at themselves in a mirror, walks away, and then immediately forgets what they look like.
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Have you ever thought about the Bible being like a mirror? In a lot of ways, the Bible is like a window into Heaven. It reveals who God is, what he’s like, and his plan for our lives. It can also function as a window into the world, showing us what a life without Christ would be like.
But in this instance, James calls it a mirror. It’s designed to show us who we are, point out our flaws, and reveal the ways that we have drifted from the kind of people God created us to be.
And that should serve as a call to action.
When we listen to God’s Word without acting on it, it’s like looking at our refection and seeing how our hair is all messed up, our clothes are all wrinkly, and we’ve got crumbs on our face. But instead of addressing those things, we just walk away thinking we’re ready for a job interview or a hot date. We’re deluding ourselves into thinking everything is fine when it’s clearly not!
The consequences of that would be a little embarrassing, but the consequences of ignoring our sin are much worse (see James 1:13-15). It really does become a change-or-die situation when we are confronted with sin but refuse to do anything about it.
Application
We need to be great students of the Word. The Bible answers all of life’s most important questions and teaches us the truth about Jesus, our need for a savior, and what a life of discipleship is all about. But it’s not enough to know what the Bible says. We have to put it into practice.
So here’s something you can do each time you read the Bible. Ask yourself what that passage teaches you about God (as a window into Heaven). Then ask what it reveals about people in general and you in particular (as a mirror of your life). Finally, ask yourself what God is calling you to do to put it into practice.
Those questions will help you make the most of your time in God’s Word!
Watch the Sermon
This summer I am preaching through the book of James at Southwest Church of Christ. This post is based on part of my sermon from June 16, 2024, which you can watch here: