God’s Mirror

Be Strong, Be Well — Sunday, January 3, 2021

James described the scriptures as “the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). He went on to illustrate that word as a mirror and how people look into it.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, 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. But 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” (James 1:22–25).

We all fit into one of these two types of people—those who hear God’s Word and ignore it, or those who hear and obey it.

It’s not hard to imagine somebody looking into the mirror, seeing his/her reflection—uncared-for, neglected, unkempt, and messy, in serious need of attention. Then without any concern, simply turning away and doing nothing about it.

James says these people look like this spiritually and their lack of concern is foolish. Yet, how many people fit this picture? They see what the Bible says about what they need to do, but they walk away as though they saw absolutely nothing.

On the other hand, there are those who look in the mirror, see things that need attention and correction, and they get right on it and fix it. Most of us care enough about how we look to give proper attention to our physical appearance.

Again, James compares this person to the one who looks into God’s Word, sees what needs to be changed in their spiritual lives, and makes the effort to do it. This person is wise. For the good of our soul, we must look into God’s Word regularly, see what needs to be changed or adjusted, and make it happen!

How often do we look into God’s mirror? What do we see? What do we do? —Chris