Mirror, Mirror
October 14th, 2008 | by Ed |I was recently meditating on a passage in the book of James. It reads:
If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror; once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it–not a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer–this man will be blessed.” (1:23-25)
In this passage, James points out that the Word of God has no power to transform us unless we act on what we hear. We must do it, apply it, obey it. The person who is blessed is not the person who hears the Word, but the person who acts on the Word.
God’s Word is like a mirror. As a mirror reflects who we are on the outside, God’s Word reflects who we are on the inside. A mirror reveals some things about who we are and what we need to change. A mirror allows us to see ourselves so that we can do something about what we see.
James says that a person who hears God’s Word but doesn’t act on it, is like a person who looks in the mirror, sees some things that need to be changed, but he doesn’t do anything about it. That person will quickly forget what the mirror has revealed.
But for the person who hears the word of truth and acts on it, the word of God becomes “the perfect law that gives freedom.” It not only reveals what you need to change, it releases power to change what it reveals!
The next time you read the Word of God, instead of looking to get “blessed,” come to the Word as to a mirror. But realize that it’s a special kind of mirror: it will reveal some things to you about your self (like the law), and then it will empower you do something about what it reveals (the perfect law). Don’t just open up the Word, open up your self to the Word of God.