Pastor David called the children to the front of the sanctuary for Pastor’s Pals, then pulled out an index card with writing on it. He held it up for the kids to see and asked if anyone knew what it was. No one had a clue, so he read off some items on the card to give some hints. “1 1/2 cups of flour…2 eggs…1/2 cup of butter…2 teaspoons of vanilla extract…”  “Oh, a recipe” one child called out. “Exactly,” said the Pastor, “this is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It gives us the directions we need to follow if we want to bake a delicious batch of cookies to eat.”

“Now, I have a question for you,” he continued. “If I just read this recipe, will the chocolate chip cookies magically appear?” Heads around the circle shook side to side as the kids called out “no.”  “Why not,” he asked. The kids looked a bit confused…wasn’t it obvious?  One girl spoke up, “because you have to mix the things together and put them in the oven to bake it,” she answered.

“Exactly right again,” Pastor David said.  “Reading the recipe is an important step, but it’s not nearly enough to get the job done.  You have to actually do something as well [he emphasized the word “do”].  You have to gather the ingredients, measure them out, mix them together into cookie dough, put the cookie dough on a pan and then bake the dough.  It’s also good to let them cool after they’re done baking.  In other words, reading the recipe is not enough.  You have to take action if you want to get the reward of a yummy batch of cookies.”

He continued, “Just like this recipe teaches us how to make cookies, our Bible teaches us how to live our daily lives and, more importantly, it teaches us God’s plan for salvation.  And just like this recipe, just reading the Bible isn’t good enough.  We must also do the things our Bible teaches us if we want to grow into the people God wants us to be and see the amazing things God can do through us.  It’s nice to read about helping others, but God wants us to actually take actions that help and serve those around us.  It’s good to read about obeying your parents, but God wants us to actually obey.  It’s important to read about God’s plan for salvation, but you have to actively accept God’s gift of Jesus to be a part of God’s family.”

“In the book of James, chapter 1 verse 22 to be exact, God tells us ‘…be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,…’  In that verse God’s telling us that He expects us to get moving…to take action…not just read or hear what we should do, but really do it. Let’s go out this week and do what the God’s Word tells us we should do!”

The simple truth:

Reading the Bible, memorizing verses, and studying scripture are great and fruitful activities…but they’re not enough.  We must also swing into action and be “doers of the Word.”

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