Degradation of Self

I want to run far, far away from problems,
but they just don't seem to go away.
They come and go,
filling my life with pointless voids.
Promising life and pleasure
they deceive and wound my soul.
I know I shouldn't return
but there's an inward pull,
a pull towards safety, towards security.
A dog would not knowingly return to the pound
if it knew it was only a temporary holding cell
until they would put it down.
Why then must I return to sin and get sucked
into the promise of safety and security,
when I know all too well I will be highly disappointed?
Why must I return to the dirty water
when my Savior has promised me living water?
Why do I prefer that which I can obtain now?
My soul aches for God, yet I suppress it,
selfishly wanting what I want right then and there.
My intimacy with my Savior is lacking,
I cry out to thee, my Lord.

Receive with Meekness the Implanted Word

James 1:21-25
(21) Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
(22) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
(24) For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
(25) But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

A.W. Tozer once wrote, "The meek (humble) man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God, everything. That is his motto."

Meekness: humility; submission to God's will; this is opposite of being prideful or arrogant. That is, open the mind and heart to instruction and to the truth.

So we must receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Back in verse 18, James says, "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth." Before we became Christians, we had to hear the Gospel, we had to hear the truth. Romans 10:14 "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" As Christians, we received the absolute truth of Jesus Christ, and now His word is within us. So James says "we were brought forth by the word of truth" and we are to receive in humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Granted, we have already been saved; but, we are continually being saved everyday. THIS IS NOT going through the process of salvation. We are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). Here is what this means, 2 Cor. 2:15 "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." So how are we being saved? From our flesh; from temptation; from wickedness; from the world; we are daily being saved from what we used to love, which now haunts us.

So all of this means what? In humility we must come to God daily to receive the Word of God. Here's why we must:
(22) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
(24) For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

We know Bible verses. We can quote hymns and Christian songs. But if we aren't living out what we hear and know, James says we are deceiving ourselves. We deceive ourselves in many different ways: "I'm not driving that fast" or "I'll study an hour before the test and I'll be okay" or "I'll just use a little bit of my savings to buy a couple things I want." All the while we know what we're doing is wrong: We're speeding, breaking the law, and have a high probability of getting pulled over; we're gonna fail that test we didn't study for; and all of a sudden you've spent $1,000 on clothes and shoes with what you were supposed to save."

We must not deceive ourselves in thinking that just because we are saved, we can miss a couple days in the Word, or prayer, or fellowship, or evangelism, etc. You wouldn't flat out say, "I'm just not going to be an obedient Christian today." Being a hearer of the word and not a doer implies that there's no real connection or relating with God and His Word. You're in, you're out. Read a chapter, then off to class without no meditation of the Scriptures whatsoever. If you're shaving, or tweezing your eyebrows you will be looking very intently at your face to make sure you didn't miss a spot. I used to gel my hair, and so I would stand in front of the mirror and wouldn't leave until it was perfect.

We must have this approach to God's Word. We must take the Bible seriously. Dive into the scriptures: learn new things, remind yourself of things you already know. Preach the gospel to yourselves daily. Your time in God's word directly affects your day.

This is important to remember: God still loves us even when we sin. If we neglect His Word, He doesn't neglect us. He's faithful even when we're faithless. God wants you to grow. He wants you to be salt and light to this world.