Words of Worth

Be a “Do-Bee”, NOT a “Don’t-Bee”

October 12, 2015

Do bee

Romper Room was a long running children’s television series that was considered an “actual kindergarten” where the hostess of the show and her group of children would play games, exercise, sing, and learn moral lessons. A recurring character on the show was an oversized bumblebee, Mr. Do-Bee, who taught the children how to behave properly.  His sentences always began with the imperative, “Do be”.  Check out this link to hear the Mr. Do-Bee song about playing on the sidewalks and not in the streets, sitting rather than standing in the car, and eating what’s on your plate instead of being a “food fussy”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtI1t_3wWLM

Well, James, the author of the letter by the same name in the New Testament, had a little bit of a “Do-Bee” mentality with God’s children of all ages. He said in James 1:22 -25:

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

James is encouraging his readers to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. To take comfort in the fact you have heard God’s Word when you haven’t done it is to deceive yourself. In the ancient world, it was common to hear a teacher, but it was only when a person followed the teacher and tried to live what he taught, that someone was called a disciple of the that teacher.  Jesus wants us to be disciples –“Do-bees” of the Word and not just hearers and God promises that an effectual doer will be blessed.

The person who only hears God’s word, without doing it, has the same sense and stability as a man who looks into a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw. The information he received did not do any good in his life. 

Jesus made this same point in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:24-27.  He said that the one who heard the Word without doing it, was like a man who built his house on the sand. The one who heard God’s Word and did it was like a man whose house was built on a rock and could withstand the inevitable storms of life.

We need to be careful students of the Word who look into the mirror of God’s Word to do something about what we see and not to just store up facts that we will not use. If we study the Word of God intently, and continue in it (do it), then we will be blessed.

Romper Room never let its audience wonder what it meant to be a “Do-Bee” and, so too, James doesn’t leave us wondering as to what it means to be a doer of the Word. In James 1:26-27, we are told that real religion is not shown by hearing the Word, but by doing it.  One way is to bridle (control) our tongues. Another way is evidenced by how we treat others.  Visiting orphans and widows in their trouble, laying eyes on them and helping the needy is a religion that is not useless. And finally, by keeping ourselves unstained by the world’s corruption, is another practical way to prove we are doers of the Word and not hearers only.

26If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Be a “Do-Bee and NOT a Don’t-Bee”!