“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 who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and then perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” James 1:22-25
I have recently found myself back in the book of James. Of all of the various books of the bible this seems to be the one God brings me to again and again when he is trying to work something out of/in to me. Maybe it is because it is a short book packed with deep wisdom; or perhaps it is James no nonsense approach as he speaks bluntly and in mind of the oppositions view, regardless of the reason…I find myself here again.
God has been revealing to me the ways in which I am not fully living out what it means to be a man. Specifically in how I choose, respond to, and manage what I give my time to. He has used several different mediums to raise my awareness to this, one being a blog I posted about recently, and another being the book of James. But that isn’t what I’m posting about today, I mention it only as an introduction to how I again found myself reading through James.
Today, I sat down to re-read the book. One of my favorite parts of James is James 1:2-18, it is such a real piece of scripture in it’s rawness and ability to look at the difficulties of life, it also brings comfort and encouragement not letting us forget why we find ourselves in trials and who our God is. But today I decided not to start there, instead I jumped to James 1:19. I read through verse 25 then stopped, went back to verse 22 and re-read it again up until verse 25. Again, here it is.
“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 who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and then perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” James 1:22-25
I don’t know how many times I’ve read this before, 50…100? Who knows. But today it struck me in a new way. I think in the past as I read this passage I had mentally checked out after the first sentence, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Sure, that makes sense, don’t be a hypocrite. It is at this point that I would breeze through the next few sentences. But today something new struck me in the description of the man who looks in the mirror. Something that is more than not being a hypocrite, something that is wound into the entirety of the gospel and of what it means to be a Christian.
In this passage there seems to be two different paths of engagement /application for us as believers; internal and external. First, this text calls us to external examination. What is it that we do? James makes it clear that our faith is made apparent by our actions. We are ‘saved’ by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10), but, in the existence of our faith we will see actions that reflect this internal change:
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)
It is in this lack of alignment between what we profess to believe and what we actually do that Christians have obtained such an unwanted reputation for hypocrisy. Part of the beauty of the gospel is that we don’t claim to be perfect, but that we acknowledge our imperfections and have been forgiven of them through Christs death and resurrection. But what This passage in James calls us to is an external examination of the fruits of our faith. As we identify the parts in our lives (look in the mirror) that don’t align with God’s clear will, are we acting on those revelations. Are we going through the process of sanctification, allowing God through trials, revelation, and his Spirit to purge from us the sins that cause separation. If we aren’t we must return to James’ initial question, “What good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”
The second part of the call to action in the passage from James 1:22-25 seems to be a call to internal examination. There is an implication in the passage that when the man looked into the mirror he saw something. This passage isn’t addressing those who have not yet walked with Christ, or those who don’t know His will. This passage is talking to those who claim to know Him. It is speaking directly to those who have seen the truth. James goes on in to say in James 1:26 that the man who looks into the mirror and sees, but then walks away forgetting what he sees has a religion that is “worthless.” It is here in the eternal examination that I think our true faith begins. It is here that we either allow God to engage us (all of us) or that we keep God out and proceed into hollow rituals of religion.It is here that we either “deceive ourselves,” or that we allow God to engage us in our messiness and transform us into a being that, by Him, produces fruit in the kingdom.
“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 who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and then perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” James 1:22-25
Like I said early, I think this passage is rooted in the depth of the gospel. We are imperfect, broken people corrupted by sin. As we come to a realization of this and find salvation in the love of God we thus begin the process of God renewing us. It is in this life long process of renewal that we are changed most not by the results of our our decisions but rather by the process of making those decisions. This is the quest* of all Christians. This is the call of Christ, that we would learn to die to ourselves and become alive in Him (Matthew 16:25). It starts with God engaging us, revealing truth in our lives, showing us the true reflection of who we are in the mirror; once that happens the next step is ours. The depth and character of who we are as people and Christians is defined in that moment, as we look in the mirror and examine the internal/external repercussions of truth and how we choose to respond.
*A friend of mine recently pointed out the distinction between an adventure and a quest. An adventure has us returning to the starting point, a quest is a one way journey, where in the end we are not only a different person, but in an entirely new place as well. Such is the Christian journey.
