Today’s post continues the treatment of James 1:22-25 and is obtained from our verse-by-verse study of the Book Of James.
James provides a beneficial illustration. We are to imagine a man who has heard the Word but does not do what it says. James writes: “He is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
When James wrote this letter over two thousand years ago, there were no glass mirrors like those we enjoy today. Mirrors in the time of the New Testament were polished metal of some kind, polished silver, copper, or tin. However, they were a sufficient means to see one’s image.
As I grow older, I find that looking in the mirror makes me wince. A mirror is honest. It’s not like taking a selfie where you can edit the image and choose a filter to soften the edges, add hair, or smooth out the lines. A mirror is honest. You can’t “Photoshop” that reflection!
So I look into the mirror and see things that need correction, like where I need to cut back on the food or exercise more. It’s not the mirror that needs correction; what I see in the mirror must be fixed.
When we read the Bible, we may not immediately like what we see. The problem, however, is not the Bible. The problem is what we learn about ourselves when we read the Bible. Truth calls for change, and change is often difficult. At the same time, if we allow the Bible to address our behavior and respond correctly after careful reflection—not just hearing but doing what it says—we will be the better for it.
Describing the Bible as “the perfect law of liberty,” James writes: “He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” So, blessing comes when we are “not a forgetful hearer” but a doer of what we read!
**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 51-52, available on Amazon.
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