I was reading last night, and this morning, and I found a really awesome verse in James.

Qualities Needed in Trials
19 *So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Doers--Not Hearers Only
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone *among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.


Well, as I was reading it, I had to question myself, and see if that was me, and in ways it was. I also thought that is was very interesting that it referenced Matthew 7 (he who builds his house on a rock), so I looked it up, and it said," He who hears my word, AND DOES IT, is likened to a man who builds his house on a rock." I never saw that before. It also referenced the verse in Luke 6, the verse where Jesus says, "But why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do the things in which I say? Whoever comes to me, and hears my sayings and DOES them, I will show you whom he is like:" and He goes on to talk about the man who dug deep to lay his foundation. That made me think, what am I DOING that is digging, and I just lazily pawing at the sand, dirt, clay in my foundation, or am I taking a shovel and really getting it out so that when God comes to lay the foundation, I don't have to question whether or not is on the rock, or is there still a layer of dirt that I did not search for, and pray that God show me, and remove it from me.

The more that I read it, the more I see how it is talking about a humble person, who accepts His word with meekness. it says The PURE and UNDEFILED religion is the opposite of an unbridled tongue, and a deceived heart. And that we are to be unspotted by the world. It made me think, and pray that God show me my heart, and let me not deceive myself, and to show me where I am spotted by the world.

Ok, the bell is about to ring.