Fear No Fear

“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 viewing his natural face in a mirror. He views himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his deeds” (James 1:22-25, MEV). God loves us, so the devil seeks to keep us from properly listening. Proper listening has two components. One is HEARING and one is OBEYING. The devil doesn’t care if we hear. The devil cares if we OBEY. He wants to be the voice we hearken to, but he will settle for ANY voice that isn’t God’s. The television, special interest groups, the government, health professionals, celebrities, your parents, your friends, your teachers, and literally EVERYONE else. ANY voice that doesn’t accord with God’s. That doesn’t mean doctors, teachers, parents, or entertainment are wrong in and of themselves. The question is how well do they line up with what God is saying. God says go to the doctor, go and do what the doctor says. God says listen to your parents, do and do what they say. God says pay attention to the covenant of your drivers license and do what the government says is legal road conduct? Go and don’t speed, drive distracted, or cross a double-yellow line. We need to do what God says, listen to HIS voice, and don’t listen to ANYONE who does not align with that voice. Which means not letting ourselves get distracted. The devil is great at pointing to all these other voices because we can see them and hear them with our natural senses. We don’t have to be still or calm or attentive. We can just hear them. They’re blaring everywhere. And the goal is to keep us from God’s words. From His point of view. From aligning with His moral character. The goal is to rob us of the BLESSING. To rob us of abundant life. And to kill us in any and every way he can (John 10:10). We need to LISTEN to Jesus’ voice. PROPERLY listen. Hear Him and obey Him. God loves us too much not to talk to us, but we waste that connection when we don’t listen.