James 1:23 “Or 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.”
You may have already looked into a mirror before reading this devotion and the meaning of this verse is up close and personal. Did you look into the mirror and see something that needed “adjusting” but walked away leaving your hair in a mess? Did you notice something in your teeth but walked away, leaving it there? Hmmm? We know that as a mirror reveals things that need adjusting, We have to take action as things that are not where they are supposed to be don’t just magically adjust themselves. We have to do more than look at ourselves in the mirror!
James is a pastor and as he teaches God’s Word he wants his people to do something with what they are hearing. In James 1:22 he says. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
The idea of being a “hearer” is that you audit. During my time in college, I would occasionally audit a class. In auditing, I did not have to do the assignments or take any tests or exams. I could pick and choose what I wanted to learn.
James is teaching that the Bible is not a class you can audit! And to illustrate that you are to be more than a hearer he tells of one looking into a mirror and walking away without making any adjustments to what they have seen.
Are you just “looking” at God’s Word but not living it?
Are you staying the same after seeing what Scripture says about how you should be living?
Are you just “auditing” the Bible but not applying the Bible?
Pastor James wants more than observation of the Word! He wants obedience to the Word!
So let’s be clear from James 1:23. James is telling us that the study of God’s Word is incomplete without the application of the Word! You can hear the Word, read the Bible, see the Scriptures, learn the Word, search the Scriptures, acquire Biblical knowledge, memorize the Scriptures, and meditate on it yet doing all these wonderful things is not enough. It still comes down to the application of God’s Word by obeying what it tells us to do or not do.
As you read God’s Word that is serving as a mirror ask “Mirror mirror of the Word, what changes do I need to make?”
Don’t dismiss what the “mirror of the Word” is showing you!
Continue Strong obeying God’s Word
And remember to DATE The Word