If your spiritual life is all input with no outlet, you start to spoil, like the roots to a potted plant without a drain. In fact, knowledge can begin to harden your heart if your perspective is primarily focused inward. All of the Bible study in the world is meaningless if it doesn't transform your affections and your actions. When you hear God's Word, respond in obedience. The Christian life is one of active obedience. God's Word becomes more than a book to us it is a means of grace, a tool of the Spirit’s sanctifying work in my heart. It means inviting the Holy Spirit to carve out those ugly places and fill them with the righteousness that Jesus gives, so that we might live out what James calls a “pure and undefiled religion” (1:27). Being transformed by the Word means becoming a doer, not just a hearer. As James tells us in this passage, we can’t merely hear God’s Word-we have to act on it. That’s because, ultimately, our mind doesn’t always connect to our heart. We know we should be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:19), but we don’t always do it. James has been talking theoretically so far, but now he's getting to the heart of his message. So far, James has talked about trials and temptations.
