An Effectual Doer

[Christsfreeservant]

“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25 NASB1995)​

If we read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, we cannot miss the fact that what they teach as the life of a follower of Christ is someone who not only is a hearer of the Word, but is one who obeys the Word of God, in practice. The Scriptures do not teach what so many people are teaching as the gospel today, in that they do not teach that we can just give lip service to God and that nothing is required of us by God in the way of us dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands.

What the Scriptures do teach regarding salvation from sin and eternal life with God is that, by faith in Jesus Christ, if it is biblical faith, we die with Christ to sin, we are reborn of the Spirit of God, and we now walk, in conduct, in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, by the grace of God, in the power of God. Sin is no longer what we practice, but obedience to our Lord is what we do by habit. We are not just hearers of the word, but we are those who are putting the word into daily exercise.

Yet, there are many people today who are teaching a gospel message absent of all obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, and absent of all death to sin, for they are teaching a “feel good” message which convinces the sinner if they just “pray the prayer to receive Christ” that now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, future), and heaven is secured for them when they die, but regardless of how they live. And although they know the evil they are committing is wrong, they walk away and just forget about it.

Some of them just do the “claim who you are in Christ” thing in order to alleviate any guilty conscience, but they are not really “in Christ” until they have died with Christ to sin and they are now walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands as a matter of life custom, although not necessarily in absolute perfection. For if their faith does not change how they live for the good and for the glory of God, in obedience to his commands, then it is not biblical faith which saves from sin and which promises eternal life with God.

So, we are to be those who look intently into the Scriptures and into what they teach, in truth, if taught in their correct biblical context. We are not to believe whatever someone else tells us is the truth, but we are to be seekers of truth who search the Scriptures ourselves for truth by reading them in their right context. And there we will learn that faith which saves results in us dying to sin and living to God in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands or it is not genuine faith that results in eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

An Effectual Doer
An Original Work / August 2, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love