James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

When I finished posting Parrots yesterday the Holy Spirit brought this passage into memory.

It is a shorter conclusion than what I wrote. Why didn’t I use those words?

My first guess would be in my struggles with Paul’s wording, but if I am going to be honest with myself, James isn’t my favorite author. His style struck me as legalistic in a time I feared legalism. I always thought James might have been a lawyer.

That is not fair to James or the truths he shared with us. I have allowed my fears to avoid precious truths and for that I have been wrong.

Praise God that the Holy Spirit knows the scriptures better than I do.

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul is just parroting the Word of Jesus. But Paul never met the man during His ministry, so where did he hear the Words of our Savior? I don’t know and that is the point.

Parrots only repeat what they hear. We can copy and paste anything and everything and share them with the world but if you have not lived out those words you are just being a parrot.

What do any of us know about following Jesus?

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Do we think our Lord needs flattery?

No, He just wants us to love Him.

What that means to you will not be what it means to me. I am not Paul even though I have read so much of his works. Even Peter admitted that some of the things that Paul wrote were difficult to understand. I am no better than Peter.

Jesus isn’t asking me to be anyone other than who I am in Him and that is difficult to achieve if all I am doing is parroting what I have heard without having done in my own life what I know I am called to do for Christ because He has asked it of me.

It is hard to keep focused on that calling with all the distractions in this life. Wishing does not make it so, we have to live out this life or we are just clanging cymbals. There I did it again, using Paul’s words because they fit better than my own.

It is a rare gift to know Christ, even rarer to know exactly what He is calling each of us to do.

Paul used sport metaphors because it was common in his day. He mentioned running the race and not allowing ours to be disqualified. To me that meant “stay in your lane.” Do not try to be someone else. Do what Christ is asking us to do. Doing keeps us from being a parrot.

Excuse me for a moment, there are things I need to do right now.