Our society is obsessed with self. Not only do we have
mirrors everywhere but we have even developed apparatuses to help us take
pictures of ourselves. Instead of recording what is happening, or the people we
are with, our emphasis is now on ourselves. We have filters to change those
pictures to make us look better, to add a crown or bunny ears, or to add some
cute caption. We are surrounded by reminders of ourselves but do we really know
what we look like?
James 1:22-25 New American
Standard Bible (NASB)
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.
The idea that a person could look in the mirror and then
forget what they looked like is preposterous, yet that is how James compares a
person who reads the Bible but doesn’t do what it says. That is the purpose of
the Law, to reveal what is in us. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to read us
as we read the word. Those who are unwilling to see what is inside are
pridefully rejecting the idea that they need to change, which is completely
contrary to Christianity. Our purpose as Christians is to become more like
Christ, but if we are unwilling to change or to admit that we need to change
then we are rejecting our purpose and God’s call and work in our lives.
James 1:21 New American
Standard Bible (NASB)
Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all
that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is
able to save your souls.
This verse comes immediately before the ones I quoted first.
Note the importance it places on being doers: in humility receive the word
implanted (in you) which is able to save
your souls. It’s not about do and do not, or following a list of shall
not’s. It is about being changed by the saving Word of God, about that seed
transforming our hearts through salvation.
We are to give up worldliness and sin and replace it with
the word of God which will save our souls and transform us into the likeness of
Christ. The person who lives by the word of God, who lives in the word of God so that he becomes a powerful servant of God
will be blessed. If we refuse to change, if we remain in and of the world, we
will not be blessed, we will not have power, and we possibly may not even be
saved.
Philippians 2:12-13 New American
Standard Bible (NASB)
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure.
We are not supposed to obey for the sake of earning our
salvation but to prove (to ourselves and to the world) that we are saved, that
we are different from the world. Christ justified us when He died on the cross,
and God views us as being righteous because of Christ, but we need to work on
growing in righteousness, becoming more righteous all our lives. We have the “position”
of being righteous, but we are not truly righteous yet and we need to work on
that.
When we read the Bible, we need to compare it to ourselves,
to see if we are living up to God’s standards, to see what needs to change so
that we can become more like Christ. It is important to ask God to reveal these
things to us as we read and pray, because there are often things we don’t
notice, that we are used to and so don’t realize they need to be changed. We
need to humbly submit to God’s pruning and refining so that we can become more
like Him.
Do you know what you look like? Do you look like God or the
world? What needs to change in your life so that you can look more like Christ?
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