FORGETFUL HEARER
James 1:25 But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Hearing the Word of God is obviously very important, but it is not just physical hearing that will help you. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, which most people know. Their immediate thought is, “I just need to keep hearing it over and over again,” and there is some truth to that, but what really needs to happen is that their faith needs to be released when they hear. The first group of Israelites, who went to the Promised Land, didn’t get in because of their unbelief, but it started with hearing. The Word didn’t profit them who heard because they didn’t mix faith with it (Hebrews 4:2). Our scripture tells us another pit fall of people who physically hear the Word of God and yet no change seems to occur in their life is that they are forgetful hearers.
A forgetful hearer, according to James 1:22, is someone who hears the Word, but they do nothing with what they heard. When the Word is ministered to them, they physically hear it; but if they really heard it, it would cause a response in their life, a change, a corresponding action. They hear with their physical ears but then, don’t do it. When this happens, the Word of God says these “physical hearers only and do-nothing” people are self-deceived. Self-deceived people are the hardest people to help. They believe they already know the answer, but the scripture is clear. It says that hearers only are self-deceived.
The Word of God is compared to a mirror. We are to look into this perfect law of liberty (James 1:25). The Word says not doing the Word is like someone looking into a natural mirror and not being able to describe themselves to anyone. They forget what they saw. More than anyone else, you should be able to describe to someone what you look like. When people hear the Word of God and don’t put it into application immediately in their life, they are forgetters of the Word. They have forgotten what they just saw, forgotten the glimmer of revelation they just received. Word not put into action in our life is lost revelation. You must hear the Word with your heart and then, do it; if not, you will forget it and it will be lost to you.
The answer is found in our verse. We need to look into the mirror of the Word of God, and let that mirror adjust us. Then, we must continue in the Word, “If we continue in the Word, then are we His disciples, and then we will know the truth, and then we will really be free (John 8:31-32). The only way not to be labeled a forgetful hearer is to be a doer of the Word. The Amplified Classic says the last part of James 1:25 this way, “…being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).” The blessing or fulfillment of what God promises comes constantly and consistently to those who do what they have heard. We must mix faith with what we are hearing; then, we must not forget it but do it. It is our lifestyle; we are to live by faith. We are to live by what we hear. We are to practice what we hear. We are to do what we hear!