Devotions: The Blessings of Doing

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:25 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

This perfect law, the law of liberty, is not a license to do whatever we want, or to ignore the law set down in the Old Testament. This liberty is freedom from the law of sin and death, freedom from bondage to Satan, and also freedom from salvation by works and sacrifices. We no longer need to sacrifice an animal to obtain forgiveness for every sin we commit. We are no longer enslaved to sin and the desires of our bodies. We are no longer subject to death as punishment for our sin. We are free to live godly lives. Since we are not saved by what we do, should we then return to sin now that we have been freed from it? Not by any means! Christ died to save us from sin, and if we then knowingly return to that sin we reject His sacrifice for our sin, to free us from that sin. We are not freed from obedience but freed from bondage to sin and works. We must still obey the law, but now we are free to obey out of love, as loyal subjects, not as robots who have no choice and no hope. That is what it means by being a “forgetful hearer.” Some hear the word and believe, but then turn from the truth which has freed them and return to sin. Or they think that they must obey in order to be accepted, forgetting the gift of grace which none can earn. Instead we must abide by that law of liberty, the law of love for God and His ways, and actively do it rather than forgetting Him who freed us. If we abide by His law, live in it, and actively do it, then everything we do will be blessed. That does not mean that we will never lose our jobs, or be ridiculed, or that we will always have worldly success, but that we are blessed in or while we do them. We will not have the sorrow of sin to weigh us down, or the regret of wrong actions. Following this law keeps us on the right path and relatively free from error. It is not a promise for lack of hardship but of blessing in the hardship. Seek to abide by and live in the law of liberty which frees us from sin so that you may follow God, and be blessed!