What Are You Doing With What You Learn?

Today's Verses -- James 1:22-25

Context:
James (presumed to be the brother of Jesus, not the apostle) is writing to the Christian Jews who are scattered around the world. They are undergoing a time of serious persecution, and he seeks to encourage them to go beyond belief and take actions that demonstrate Christ.

Text:

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who
looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and
immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into
the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting
what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com
This year I'm planning to read through the Bible in a year. I'm trying a different approach, hoping it works better than in the past. I've purchased a One Year Chronological Bible in the New Living Translation. The text is rearranged in sequential order and the daily readings are laid out for me.

So far it's been very interesting. Genesis, of course, comes first, but it is interspersed with some of the genealogy from other books which will hopefully keep me from spending a month going through tedious lists of names and numbers. I love the stories of the interactions of God and his chosen leaders such as Abraham and Isaac. I've read about Jacob and Job, and now I'm reading about Moses and the plagues on Egypt.

But James verses about doing what the word says have caused me to step back. I admit I've been reading the daily assignments more as adventure stories and I've not been taking the time to really comprehend what they mean in my daily life. Other than increasing my ability to tell Bible stories, what am I doing with the things that I learn? How do these ancient stories apply to modern life?

What blessings am I missing by not intently studying the words I read?

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of class to refresh old habits and learn new techniques for really applying God's message in my life.

In the meantime I think I need to look back and see what I've missed so far this year!

How about you? Can you name five life lessons you've learned from your Bible reading so far this year (that's only one per week...)?