James 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

We close out our lesson with an important warning.  James writes the importance of not just listening to these instructions, but applying ourselves to them.  He gives us a warning and expects us to take heed to it.  The meaning of the word deceiving is to reckon wrong, to miscount, to cheat by false reckoning, to deceive by false reasoning, to deceive, delude, and to circumvent.  Remember, reckon means to add up and to be factual.  This word refers to facts, not something supposed.  We are to apply the Word to our everyday life and not just listen to it on a Sunday morning or the radio.  Our Lord desires to be intimately involved in our lives.  Remember, He purchased us and the price tag on us read “God’s only Son.”  God didn’t hold anything back.  He went all the way and left nothing to spare.  God’s Love is whole, complete, and perfect, and if we allow Him to have His way with us, we will have this promise from 1 John 3:2,  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

If I, by faith, apply the truths that I have learned and found written in scriptures while studying this principle, I can be assured that I will have peace with my Savior and fellow man.  The fruit born from my efforts and works will be given back to me on my “day of rewards” in the form of a crown, and in this life I will grow in favor with both God and man because LOVE will be manifest and obvious as my source of power and my goal in this life.