Prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves (James
1:22).

I am learning about pastors and missionaries across the country who are preaching
against the very sins they are committing themselves. Nationally known Christian
personalities who vehemently condemn immorality have themselves been found to be hiding an
immoral lifestyle. Those of us who are called to preach or teach God’s Word must put it on
first. We must get on our knees before God as we prepare the message and say, "God,
is this Scripture true in my life?" If not, we had better be honest enough to say to
those who hear us, "I wish I were a better example of this passage than I am, but I’m
still growing in this area." To proclaim the Word of God as if it were true in your
life when it’s not is a lie.

Those of us who receive the Word are also vulnerable to self-deception if we fail to
put it into practice. We hear a sermon or a lesson and say, "Wow! What a great
truth!! and hurry off to share it with someone else without processing it ourselves and
applying it to our own lives. James said that hearers of the Word who are not also doers
of the Word deceive themselves.

Why are we afraid to admit it when our lives don’t completely match up to Scripture? I
believe it’s because many of us have a perfection complex. We think we have to model
perfection and not admit to something less. But we can’t model perfection, because we’re
not perfect; we can only model growth. The people around us need to know that we are real
people in the process of maturing.  They need to see how we handle failure as well as
how we handle success. When we model this kind  of honesty in the Christian
community, we greatly reduce the possibility of the deceiver gaining a foothold.

Lord, forgive me for the times I have placed the quest for earthly perfection ahead of
growth in You and Your Word. Help me model growth in my life today.

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This daily devotional is published and distributed by http://www.GOSHEN.net/

It is written by Neil Anderson at http://www.ficm.org/