the Man in the Mirror
Preaching this weekend on James 1:19-27
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.
I have two shaving mirrors that I use when I travel or workout at the gym. One is a fancy folding mirror made of real glass I bought years ago. The other is a flimsy plastic mirror that is relatively cloudy and scratched. In one mirror I can see all my blemishes and stray whiskers, in the other I can barely discern that I still have a face.
When we look into the mirror of God’s Word, we need to embrace it as a true, reliable, high quality mirror, telling us truth about ourselves, our world and our God. If we don’t trust its accuracy and welcome what it says about several things: 1. our sinful state, 2. our need for the impenetrable love of the Father in Christ through the Spirit, 3. and what true Christian living looks like–we deceive ourselves (and according to James) our religion is useless.
Lesser mirrors like pop psychology, the culture, or our sinful nature will tell us precious little about our truest need and hope, they will merely reveal that we “still have a face.” May this not be true of us, may we look intently into this word of truth—which can save our souls—that it may shape us and form us into Christlikeness.
