Which Mirror?

Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 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 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 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. –James 1:22-25

We talked about this verse in our Sunday school class this weekend and something new struck me in these familiar verses. (It might not be new to you. I might just be a slow learner!) This passage says that the one who only hears is like a man who looks at himself in the mirror. The man who hears, does, and is blessed is the one who looks intently at the perfect law that gives freedom–i.e. the Word of God.

It really made me thing: which mirror am I looking at? Am I a hearer, focused on my own reflection, or a doer, focused on God, seeing everything in the Word as a call to action of some kind (inward or outward)? When hearing leads to doing, I begin to reflect God’s character as in a mirror instead of my own forgettable flesh. That’s the kind of mirror I want to gaze into. Often.

I was convicted by that. How about you?