Doers of the Word

By Cal Cook

Moses says be careful, Deuteronomy 4:2

Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you. He warns them by reminding them of what happened the last time they turned away from God. In fact the O.T. is filled with the history of a people continually turning away from God and His Commands.

When I had back surgery about 7 years ago my mother-in-law gave me the bible written in chronological order as a kind of novel. I read it while I was essentially bed ridden and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was an attempt to interweave the prophets and the history of the Bible. The most striking thing for me was how history repeated itself over and over again. The people would stray from the word of the Lord and so the Lord would lift His hand of protection and another nation would come in and wreak havoc on the Israelites. So the people would cry out to God and God would raise up a savior to deliver them from their oppressors. The people would return to the Lord only to have their children repeat the process. About every 40 years they would need to be reminded.

Yet here is Jesus some 1400 years later…after the dispersing of the northern tribes, after the utter destruction of Jerusalem, after the long captivity in Babylon, after the rebuilding of the Temple. Only to be ruled over repeatedly by the Persians and Greeks and Romans…again they need to be reminded! What’s up with these people? Now they are more worried about observing man made traditions intended to point them to God’s Holiness, than they are of actually keeping God’s Commands! Worried more about the outside of the cup than they are with what is actually in the cup…

And here we are some 2000 years later…after having Jesus show us and the Word of God to remind us, James 1:22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves…once again, needing to be reminded. It seems as if the cycle is getting shorter and shorter…at least the Israelites would remember for one generation, we can’t even remember for a couple of years…heck even a couple of months! How long after September 11, 2001 was it before we were at each other’s throats again? I still remember our elected officials standing on the steps of the Capital singing and praying together…didn’t last long did it? We in the church are certainly no better! We spend most of our resources, time, money, energy fighting within ourselves instead of doing the things we are commanded to do. James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Religion has become a four letter word for me…in fact I despise it! For me the word implies all of the man made stuff, the traditions, the washing of the hands the cleaning of the cups. The rules and regulations designed to honor people…not God. Pure and genuine religion…does it even exist?