“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
-James 1:22 (NIV)
Nike sold a lot of shoes with their slogan “Just Do It.” Now, I’m not a Bible scholar or professional minister, but I think Nike should give some church somewhere a little compensation because I think they were probably the ones who came up with the phrase.
Last night, in the NCAA women’s national championship game, the Texas A&M Aggies took that quote to heart in their victory over Notre Dame. According to the post-game interviews, their coach had to “coach hard” during the game in order for the team to be successful. And the women responded well, topping the Irish 76-70.
As coaches, we all go into a game with a certain game plan. The idea is that we come up with a plan and put our players in position to basically win the game. The catch is that the players have to follow the game plan. They have to “Just Do It.” The Aggies did just that. They listened to their coach and followed his game plan.
Well, God has a game plan for us, too, and, according to James 1:22, we are supposed to do more than just read the game plan. We are to put it into practice. If the A&M players would have just read and listened to their coach’s game plan and not put it into practice they wouldn’t have come out on top. And the same goes for us as Christians. It’s good to read the Bible—God’s Game Plan—but if we don’t put it into practice, it does us very little good.
If we keep reading in James 1, we find James telling people that, if they listen but don’t follow through, they are like a man who forgets what he looks like after he has just looked into a mirror. In the last few words of James 1:25, he tells us that, when we read God’s Word and put it into action, we will be blessed for what we do.
Just like the Texas A&M basketball team benefitted from following their coach’s plan, we also will profit from following God’s Game Plan. Every coach wants to win, and thus, puts together a plan that will give his or her team the best opportunity to win. Because we know our Coach is the ultimate Coach with the ultimate plan, we can know that we are given the strategy for true victory. It’s our job to put it into action.
1. How often do you read the Bible?
2. When was the last time you put God’s “Game Plan” of Scripture into action?
3. What is one thing you can do today to follow God’s plan in your everyday life?
Matthew 7:24-27
James 1:22-27
James 2:14-20
“Father grant us the wisdom to read and understand Your game plan and the strength to put it into action.”
About the Author:
Michael Hill is a former FCA staff member and head coach. He lives and teaches in Haysville, Kan. In his career, Michael has been blessed to coach college and high school football and spend years as a high school cross country coach.