The blessing comes by “doing”

In his book Traveling Hopefully, Stan Mooneyham wrote, “I will go, when—I will give, after—I will obey, but first—one can always find reasons for delay, and sometimes they may even seem to be valid reasons. A close friend of mine and I were called to preach about the same time, and we went to university together. I was out mutilating homiletics in rural Oklahoma churches during those four years of study, but my friend insisted he wouldn’t preach his first sermon until he had received his PhD. That was over thirty years ago. I am still mutilating homiletics, but my friend isn’t preaching at all. He never did. Preparation is important, but doing is a vitally important part of preparation. In the Old Testament, we hear much about offerings of ‘first fruits.’ God’s portion came right off the top. Nowadays we are more likely to be known by and for our ‘last fruits.’ Near the hold button on the hotline to heaven, these classic words would be appropriate: ‘If not I, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?’ Are you waiting for the ‘perfect moment’ to come before you step out in faith and obey what God has told you to do? Obey God. Now! It’s not enough to say you believe God’s Word; you must obey it. It’s not enough to accumulate Bible knowledge; you must apply the knowledge God has given you to your daily living.” James writes, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves…a doer…will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22, 25 NKJV). The blessing comes by “doing.”