October 13, 2026 · Paul Joseph

Hearing Is Not the Same as Doing

It is possible to love the Word of God and still not obey it.

God told the prophet Ezekiel about people who did exactly that. "So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain" (Ezekiel 33:31). They came, they listened, they enjoyed it. Then they went home unchanged.

James calls it self-deception: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). Hearing a good message feels like progress. It is not progress until something changes in how we live.

Saul learned this the hard way. He kept the best of what God told him to destroy and called it an offering. Samuel answered him: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice" (First Samuel 15:22). Doing most of what God said, in our own way, is still not obedience.

Here is the part that gives me hope. Jesus did not make obedience a burden. He made it the doorway to closeness: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23). Obedience is where understanding opens up and where you start to know Him.

Grace does not lower God's standards. It gives you the power to meet them.

Before this weekend ends, pick one thing God has already shown you and do it. Don't wait to feel ready.

This is what we build, one day at a time, in Jesus Boot Camp. If you have not started, begin free at jesusbootcamp.org/join.

Paul Joseph

The class that goes with this post: Class 17 — Obedience: The Key To Discipleship