"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 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; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 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 1:22-25)
Over the last few weeks we have looked at the Word of God and the implications of various passages to our lives. One theme that comes out quite strongly is that of the necessity to read the Bible. We have been also challenged in terms of passion, discipline, and its benefits. But our reading of the Bible should not end there. In our verses today, James tells us that our responsibility goes further than that. It demands obedience.
Hearing is Not Obeying
It is clear from this passage that God expects to take our reading of the Bible and put it into practice. In fact, James warns us that to not do so means we are deceiving ourselves. James likens it to a person looking into a mirror and forgetting what they look like when they walk away.
To understand James point here we need to understand the purpose of a mirror. Quite simply, for the most part it is for self-examination. As you look at yourself you see the flaws and do something about fixing them. Imagine waking up in the morning and looking at yourself in the mirror to see bloodshot eyes, dishevelled hair, unshaven face, and then you dress and leave for work forgetting what you saw in the mirror? For the rest of the day you will look like a fool and people may ridicule you for it. This is what James is talking about.
When we read the Word of God, we see ourselves in it. We see our faults and sin. But to walk away and do nothing about it is pointless. We need to do something about it by obeying what God says.
Obedience and Blessing
Seeing ourselves in the mirror of God's Word is not a pleasant experience. No one like to see their true state of sinfulness. David was in the same predicament when he was challenged by Nathan for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the resulting murder of Uriah. When David heard Nathan's parable about a man who stole another man's lamb, David was enraged, but then Nathan pointed it out to him that David was himself that man (2 Samuel 11-12).
We hate people pointing out our flaws and sin, and we do not like it when the Bible points it out to us either. Sometimes it happens when we read the Bible for ourselves, read a book, hear a sermon, or even have someone confront us like David did. The question is, what are we going to do about it?
David dealt with it. Psalm 51 is an excellent portrayal of David's heart at this time. He saw the error of his ways, that he had sinned against God, and requested God to change his heart. When confronted with God's Word, David obeyed.
When we are confronted with God's Word we need to obey it. And when we do, we will be blessed in what we do. Note that the blessing is tied in with obedience to God's Word. It is not that we will be blessed in every area of our lives, that we are now going to be healthy and wealthy, but rather that through our obedience, we will receive blessing in those areas where we obey.
The challenge is, do we obey God's Word in everything, or do we only obey the things we like, that we believe still apply in our situation or culture? Though not every command in the Bible applies to us directly, we still have the responsibility to learn from them and apply the basic principles to our own lives. After all, God has called us to be holy as He is holy, and to do that requires obedience to His Holy Standard given to us, the Bible.
Just a Thought!
© 2012
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