I always said that if I had to minister in a congregation, I would return every person’s certificate of church membership. Then we’ll go and sit around the table and learn from the Bible what it means to be a dedicated child of God.

The members of the congregation can then send their certificates back if they agree to this true Christian way of life.

I suspect a few people will be really upset. Others ill only renew their membership when pressurised by others. And a few here and there will get their way of life in line and start living according to what their church proclaims.

A friend was visiting from Australia. He told us about the country and its people, and in passing mentioned that when people there said they were children of God, they were true children of God.

In the old days, churches were filled to capacity. Everybody went to church. If you didn’t go, your neighbour would want to know why. It was the right thing to do.

But this tradition didn’t mean much. Going to church didn’t make you a Christian. Louis Malherbe always said sleeping in a garage didn’t mean you would become a car.

First, you must accept Jesus as your personal Saviour. You must put down your debt at His feet, repent of your sin, and then, when you are accepted as a child of God, go and live as a child of God.

During the week, people must see you really following Jesus, and not just going to church on a Sunday, hardly able to wait for the sermon to finish, and then going to live like the world is living.

Rather, when you leave church, you must go and do and live like God’s Word tells us to. Yes, it doesn’t help just to read God’s Word and walk away unmoved. Then you might as well not have read it.

^22-23Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!

This verse kind of grabs you by the throat. It really makes you think. Do we really do what God says? Do I follow the instructions given to His children in His Word?

Don’t live in a fool’s paradise, the sign says. Don’t even go to church and think that will make you a Christian. Go and do as God’s Word says we should do and as the youngsters say: Man up!

Scripture
James 1:22-27

Reflection
What does your life look like?
Are you living according to God’s Word?
Can others see it?

Prayer
Father, this one’s probably for me. At ties, I don’t do what Your Word tells me to do. May You give me the strength to live the way You want me to. In Jesus’ Name Amen.