May 15, 2019

BE A DOER

James 1:22-25

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.

Personal Challenge

One area of Christian doctrine that often generates great and vigorous, sometimes vehement debate, is the area of works. There are some faith practices that will go to the extreme of belittling or even trying to eliminate recognition of any works for fear that someone might think they are earning their way into Heaven. I have been on the receiving end of this teaching multiple times. In Orthodoxy, we believe that there is nothing that we can do on our own to earn salvation. Salvation only comes from the mercy of God through the works of His son, Jesus Christ. However, we do agree with the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles, that we eagerly do the works of God because of that salvation. His works all boil down to loving God and loving our neighbor. These are the perfect law of liberty that sets us free. These are what all of our works should be grounded in. This is what it means to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. So we do believe in doing works for our God. The works are not to earn us anything but come from our gratitude and joy of the blessings poured out upon us. Glory be to God! Let's go and do likewise.