Doing God’s word

“And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” - Ezekiel 33v31

In James we are told to be doers of the word and not hearers only, for then we are only hearers of the word we deceive our own selves. Here is Ezekiel we have an Old Testament example of the same truth.

These people were hypocrites. They talked about how much they loved God and others. They acted like the loved Ezekiel and the words he was speaking. They came and heard him preach, but they talked about him at the city walls. The listened to him, but they did nothing. They acted like they loved him, but the actions belied their words because they were caught up in their own covetousness.

The true test of their faith was not how well they listened, but what they did. Like the readers of the book of James these people were deceiving themselves in the own covetousness by hearing, but now doing, by telling Ezekiel they loved him, but never showing it to him.

Are we like the people in Ezekiel’s day? Do we hear God’s word with joy and then not follow through by doing it?