Do we let the Word of God speak or do we throw up our barriers and are prejudiced against it? We must be honest hearers of the Word of God, meaning that when the Word does convict either our doctrine or our practice, do we humble ourselves before God and repent and ask forgiveness and grace?
Are we thoughtful? We must be thoughtful hearers and readers of the Word of God. We should be seeking to understand and store up in our hearts and minds meditatively, that which God says.
And then we must be precise hearers. Our God is a God of precision. You have surely heard the story of, I think it was John Rogers, who was out riding horseback one afternoon and the lord of the manor, who was an opponent of the Puritans, came up and rode alongside him and was trying to engage him in controversy, but Rogers just did not take the bait. Finally, in his exasperation, the lord of the manor says,
Joseph A. PipaMan, why is it you puritans are so precise?Rogers said,because we serve a precise God!Effectual doing is carefulness, not sloppiness. Do not be intimidated by the charges that you are legalistic. Precision is not legalism. Precision is the loving adherence to all the particulars of God's Word.1
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.