There Is No Try, There Is Only Do

James 1:22 says, “Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” James goes on to compare a man that hears, but doesn’t obey, to a man that looks at his reflection in the mirror, and then walks away, and forgets what kind of man he is. If you look in the mirror, and see that your hair needs to be combed, you would comb it, wouldn’t you? If you don’t like the way you look in the mirror, you would take some kind of corrective action, right? If you see something in the mirror that you don’t like, and then walk away and forget about it, what does that say about you as an individual? Worse than that, if you hear the Word, and realize that you need to make some corrections, and just forget about it, what does that say about the state of your soul?
There are a lot of passages in the New Testament that talk about doing things. In Luke 6, Jesus made a similar comparison, but Jesus compared the doer to a man who built his house upon a rock, and the hearer to a man who built his house upon the sand; one had a solid foundation, and the other didn’t. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus told us to love our enemies, to bless those that curse us, and to do good to people that hate us, and to pray for those that persecute us. In Matthew 7:12, He taught us the Golden Rule. In Mark 3, Jesus came across a man with a problem with his hand on the Sabbath day, and the Pharisees watched to see if Jesus would heal this man on the Sabbath. Jesus asked them if it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, but they wouldn’t answer Him (of course, Jesus healed the man anyway). In Luke 17:10, we are told that when we have done everything that we are commanded to do, we are still unprofitable servants (good thing God is rich, and doesn’t need us to turn a profit). At the wedding at Cana, Mary told the servants, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” That’s good advice for all of us.
Jesus Himself said that He did nothing of Himself (John 8:28). The former blind man in John 9:33 told the Pharisees that unless Jesus were of God, He could do nothing. In John 14:12, Jesus said that we would do greater works than He did.
In 1 Corinthians 10:31, we are told that whatever we do, we should do to the glory of God. Hebrews 13:16 tells us to do good. 2 Peter 1:10 says to be diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, ye shall never fall. 1 John 3:22 says that when we ask of God, we receive, because we do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Now, Romans 7:15-22 gets really interesting. Here Paul talks about not doing what he wants to do, but doing things he hates doing, because in his flesh dwells no good thing, so, as much as he wants to do good, he finds himself committing sin, anyway. So, if we do things that we don’t want to do, it isn’t because of us, it’s because of the sin that lives in us. Of course, if you commit sin because you want to, then you are just a sinner, but if you get caught up doing things that you really, honestly don’t want to do, then God understands. Galatians 5:17 tells us that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. The two are contrary to each other, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, so the flesh is going to try to get its fun now, while the spirit is going to strive for an eternal reward. The question is, which one do we want in charge? Which is more important, to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh in this life, or to reap rewards in the life to come?
The bottom line is, we can never do enough, that’s why salvation is a gift. At the same time, if we don’t do anything, we aren’t going to make it. A lot of people get hung up n the ides that it is simply a matter of faith, but read Hebrews chapter 11: How is the faith of those that have gone before us described? Isn’t it by their actions? Look at James 2:17, faith without works is dead. Don’t walk around with dead faith; that doesn’t do anybody any good.