All Christians fit into one of three categories when it comes to hearing and doing:
1 – they don’t hear at all
They are not faithful in church, never read their Bible, etc.
2 – they hear and do
They are faithful to absorb truth often and work to apply it
3 – they hear and forget
They listened with good intentions, but never make application
Those in category one pose a different set of problems that we will save for perhaps a different time. Our concern here is finding the correct balance of hearing and doing. And the book of James is instructive when it comes to doing, telling us of two options that exist: living the Word or forgetting the Word.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25
The Word of God is a mirror for our life. It gives us information. But it is not enough just to see the information. We must take what we see and use it. We must apply it. We must live it. And if we live it, we will be blessed. Simple to understand. Harder to do.
When you wake up in the morning and you look in the mirror – it’s not enough just to look at yourself and walk away. At least not for me. You must do something with the information you have just been given by the mirror. You need to brush your hair for goodness sakes. You need to change your clothes. You definitely need to brush your teeth. Some mornings, the signal may be so strong that you just need to go back to bed! Whatever the mirror is telling you, you need to take action or there is no point in having a mirror at all.
In the same way, it is not enough to merely hear God’s Word – either during the weekly Sunday sermon or when you read it yourself during the week – and not do anything about it.
Too many Christians substitute hearing for doing. But it is not the hearing that brings the blessings – it’s the doing. I can read a verse that teaches me that I need to love my wife; but if I don’t take action to show her love, I will not have any of the blessings of a good marriage that are offered.
The Bible here calls itself “the perfect law of liberty”. The Word of God brings liberty – freedom – to our lives – when we apply it and live it. When we stay within it’s boundaries, we find freedom to be who God intended us to be – fulfilling His purpose.
One of my favorite verses about the impact of God’s Word applied is this one:
And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. Psalm 119:45
The word liberty here literally means “a wide place”.
When I hear and then seek to live His Word, God will make my life like a broad plain, full of good choices and options, a life free and overflowing with blessed paths every day!
Vision is the ability to see what could be rather than what is.
A leader with vision sees the changes needed around him (and many times in himself!) and looks to lead in those areas to affect change. A person with vision is driven by a picture of a preferred future.
One of my favorite illustrations of vision is Walt Disney’s dream to build Disney World in Florida. Everyone thought he was crazy, including his family and close associates. The part of Florida that Disney wanted to place his theme park in was nothing but empty swamp land and orange groves. But he had a vision for it – a picture in his mind of what it would be. Sadly, Walt died before Disney World opened to the public. As the story goes, at the opening of the park, someone remarked to Walt’s brother Roy with a well-intentioned comment that it was “sad that Walt did not live to see the park completed”. Roy replied smartly along the lines of, “He did see it. That’s why we are standing here today”. That’s vision.
Vision precedes ALL accomplishment. If you completed anything good without first thinking of it, planning for it, and acting on those plans, then whatever happened was not an accomplishment, it’s a “happy accident”, to quote the great Bob Ross.
One of the most fascinating things to me about vision is the process of something that is ethereal – just an idea – turning into a tangible reality. In fact, everything physically tangible in our world did not start out that way – everything started out as just an idea in someone’s head. An artist, or an engineer, or an architect, or a computer nerd, or someone, somewhere had an idea. And as that idea ruminated in their minds and took shape, it became a vision. It became a vision that was shared with others, who then began to collectively take action on that vision, and the end result was a tangible, functional, beautiful, reality. It looks like this:
Dreams –> Vision –> Action –> Reality
This is the process of vision, of moving things forward. By the way, this process is unique to humanity! I maintain that humans are the only creatures with vision! My dog does not have a vision for her life. I did not see her making a New Year’s resolution list at the beginning of this year. She is not actively designing plans to build a tool that will allow her to open the cabinet where I keep her treats (cursed non-apposable paws!). Human beings, on the other hand, are created in the image of God and part of that imago Deo is the ability to dream, to refine that dream into a vision, to take action on that vision, and to see a new reality take shape.
The most striking example of this vision process that I know of is the story of the creation of the iPhone. Steve Jobs, the famed Apple CEO, had a vision of a “smart phone” – a computer with a touch screen that would fit in your pocket. Before the release of the iPhone there was nothing like it on the market, particularly the touch screen part. Jobs’ vision was to remove all the buttons that had existed on the previous Apple products like iPod, and other products like Blackberry, and allow the user interface to be completely controlled by fingertip touch. This had never been done before on a device this small, and frankly not much at all. In fact, at the Apple event revealing the first iPhone, this new touch-screen technology shocked the audience present and subsequently the world. I would encourage you to find the video of the 2007 Apple Conference where Steve presents the iPhone and watch for the part where he introduces the scroll feature. When he “swipes” that screen with his finger to move the music albums up and down (a feature we now take for granted and use a thousand times a day), the gasps from the audience are audible. His vision becoming a tangible reality literally sucked the air out of the room.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keeps the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18
The word vision in this verse means “revelation” or “divine guidance”. The context is that we should get our direction, our dreams, our vision, and our plans from the Lord.
The word perish does not necessarily mean death as we might be inclined to think; it more accurately is understood to mean “not caring about anything”. It means to be empty, vacant, unoccupied; to have no direction and no potential. To have no vision for your life, your family, your work, your ministry, or your future is to perish in some real way.
When I think of this verse, I think of an empty building that I often pass in Metro Manila. Since I moved to the city over a decade ago, this 10+ story building has sat unfinished, empty, vacuous. What happens over time to a vacant building? A building with no purpose or use? It begins to decay. It begins to perish. It has lost its purpose, lost its potential, and therefore loses its glory and use. The same thing can happen to a person, a family, an organization, or a congregation.
Vision and the actions that follow fight against this sort of degradation around us.
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 1 Timothy 6:6-8
The word contentment means “satisfaction in one’s circumstance or position in life”. To be content is to be satisfied with whatever place you find yourself in, assuming your basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are met. Anything on top of those essentials is just “icing on the cake” – not a requirement to be happy or satisfied.
So, what is it that keeps us so often from being content? For starters, we often look to other’s situations around us and that makes us discontented, dissatisfied with our own lot. We see the money that our friend has, or the children that our neighbor has, or the job, or the intellect, and on and on, and we develop a desire to have more, achieve more. Comparison leads to discontentment. I think Americans struggle more with this than many other nationalities, because of America’s affluence. I live and work in a developing nation, and I frequently travel to other developing nations and have many friends and co-laborers-in-Christ in these third world countries. And what I have learned is that living in an affluent society or being affluent does not ensure contentment. In fact, it may hinder contentment. Because when everyone around you is obtaining more and more wealth, bigger and more expensive toys, and growing their collection of material things – you cannot help but compare your situation to theirs. And if money does not buy happiness, it sure does give the impression of it. When I see the guy in the brand-new pickup truck pulling the brand-new bass boat down to the lake, there is a little part of me (and in any fisherman) that would love to be that guy. I compare myself to his situation, when in reality I know nothing about him! I have no idea what his life is like, what his relationship with the Lord is like, what is going on in his mind and heart – and yet I compare my external circumstance to his, and his seems to be preferential. And as we live in this environment day in and day out, we get caught in a cycle of constant comparison that changes the way we see our circumstance.
Contentment is only real if it would still remain after you stripped everything above basic needs away. The Bible says that if you have a relationship with the Lord and have food and clothes you can and should be content; that you don’t need to compare your situation to anyone else’s. But we often search for more. And when we look past our basic needs for more, we are really looking for something other than Jesus to satisfy us:
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6
Without covetousness in this verse means “free from the love of money”. Meaning, we don’t look to get more and more and more material things as the goal of our daily life. The reason we are working should not be ultimately to buy more stuff. We are to be content with the food and clothing that we have. We are to be content with where we are materially. Why? Because the Lord is with us and He is our helper.
Our satisfaction is found in Jesus. When we forget Him, and start looking other places, we lose our satisfaction.
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. Luke 9:23-24
To deny yourself means to say no to yourself, to refuse to give yourself what yourself really wants. Does that sound like God telling us to love ourselves, and make sure we care for ourselves, and esteem ourselves as special and important?
Jesus said that I need to deny myself and take up my cross if I will follow Him! This is the very opposite of loving yourself, caring for yourself, worrying about yourself.
Don’t look out only for your own interests – because we know you are doing that already, remember? But look out for, care for, and seek the good of others.
Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. 1 Corinthians 10:24
This verse teaches the exact opposite of what the world teaches! To seek means to make an effort, or to try to accomplish something. God says you don’t need to make any effort, you don’t need to focus at all on yourself, on doing good for yourself – you and I will do enough of that anyway! Instead, focus on the good of others around you!
Promoting self-love is unbiblical, has no Scriptural foundation, and is unnecessary. It is also distracting to the real work of loving others. In short – it is a lie from Satan that you need to spend time and effort on loving yourself! Satan knows that you will care for yourself just fine, but if he can make you focus on yourself, lay down your cross, and forget about others, you will not and cannot be focused on serving Christ and others! And by the way, the ultimate way to love others is to share the gospel with them. What else could be more important to their well-being? But we cannot do that if we are focused on ourselves. A focus on self-esteem distracts from evangelism and discipleship.
The real way to love myself is to love God and love others. The real way to do the best for myself is to be involved in what God has saved me to do – good works for others. Caring for others is the ultimate way to care for yourself.
I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
If you want to be blessed, don’t spend your day focused on yourself. Spend your day focused on others. As we do this, we are more like Christ than in any other way. He gave His life for others – for you and for me and everyone. And we should do the same.
Care for yourself, yes. God assumes that. But focus on others. God commands that. And in doing so, be your true self that God made you to be. That’s the balanced view of self.
I need to forgive myself first so I can find peace to forgive others.
These statements sound good. You may feel good saying them or hearing them said. Why, they may even sound biblical. But….they are not. They are the world’s view of self and image.
God’s view is much different. His take on this issue of self is that I already love myself, and that I will most naturally do what I think is in my best interests by default.
For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. Ephesians 5:29
This verse says that no human being, at any-time, anywhere, has ever truly hated himself, but that instead we as human beings innately provide for ourselves and care for ourselves. In other words, I am automatically concerned about myself already.
Did you look in the mirror this morning after you woke up? Most likely you did. I did. Why? Because I love myself! I want me to look good – or at least as close as I can manage to get to that ideal. (side note: pre-teen boys don’t count in this particular sociological study, as they generally don’t care what they look like regardless of the situation. Ask me how I know).
Here’s another experiential proof. When you cut your finger on something, what do you do? I mean a really serious cut. Go watch TV? Scroll social media? Go out and get something to eat? No! You stop and take care of the wound. No one has to tell you to do that. You just do it. Because you just care about yourself by default.
Another example: I can tell you from years of ministry experience that the hardest thing to do is to motivate and lead volunteers who are hungry and ready to eat. Why? Because if we are hungry, we are concerned about one thing – nourishing ourselves! Maybe that’s why Jesus said “feed My sheep”, I’m not totally sure.
Perhaps my favorite illustration of this is that when traveling on an airplane, during the safety briefing, they tell you that if the oxygen levels drop in the plane, masks will drop, and you should put your mask on before helping someone else. I want to say to the flight attendant giving the briefing – “Oh don’t worry about that! Everyone is definitely going to be concerned about themselves first!”
Hopefully you are convinced of the fact that, well, we love ourselves. We’ve looked at one teaching on the idea of self from Scripture and several experience-based examples, but let’s look at one more passage:
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4
Look out not only for your own interests – God assumes here that we take care of ourselves. We are not commanded here to love ourselves. God knows we already do that. He assumes it. It’s who we are. Congratulations – your self-care is perpetually on auto-pilot. Great job, you.
In fact, nowhere in Scripture are you told to love yourself. Think about that. Of all the things that God says to do and not to do in the Bible – all the important instructions that He knew we needed – “love thyself” is not one of them.
There’s a lot of talk about how AI is going to replace many of the jobs in our world today.
Glenn Beck has a fascinating article that I recommend you read and think about.
Over the next decade, entire careers may be replaced by artificial intelligence. And I think that is a distinct possibility – even a likely reality. But there’s one career – or I prefer the term calling – that will never be replaced by AI.
AI will simply never be able to replace the job of a pastor.
Pastors hear God’s words, like the prophets of old, and deliver God’s message to His people. This is spiritual work. God speaks to the heart of man. He communes with man’s spirit. AI contains no spirit and therefore cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God.
It’s like trying to use a lightning cable when all you’ve got is a 30-pin phone. It’s not compatible.
I have no doubt that AI will be used – and probably is being used – to write sermons (oh the humanity!). But these sermons will be as dry as a creek bed during drought. AI has no ability to hear from God out of His living Word, and therefore cannot impart to us a message from God.
Yes, AI will be able to collate millions of sermons and commentaries and Bible studies and have a conversation with you about them. In fact, I think this is a good thing. I’ve personally used AI for biblical research. It’s amazing! It will even be able to apply those things to your specific situation. But it will not be able to hear from God directly. And that’s the difference.
AI will only have second-hand spiritual knowledge. Pastors and preachers have firsthand knowledge from God Himself – that is tailored to time, people, and place. It’s the difference between sitting with someone who sat with an author vs. sitting with the Author Himself.
I think this will become increasingly obvious as our use of AI becomes more prevalent. We will discover that AI is much better than us at problem-solving, and much worse at trying to give spiritual insight. At least I hope it will be obvious. My concern is that it will not be, and will pull many pastors and churches down into a place of second-hand spiritual relationship. But I digress….
A pastor with a calling will be needed and wanted the more that we merge with AI in our day-to-day lives. We will be intuitively aware that we need something beyond machine – something beyond intelligence – something spiritual.
