Seriously, I do look in the mirror, and I see all manner of tragedies which need to change. Some things can’t be changed (like the size of my nose or the shape of my ears), but much of what I see can be changed (like the craziness of my hair, or the fog on the mirror from my breath).
The one thing I cannot do is gaze into the mirror for an hour, make a list of all the things that are wrong and then walk away having changed nothing.
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 perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (James 1:22-25)Notice that those who do not act, but only hear are accused of deceiving themselves. Sometimes it’s very easy to be proud of ourselves for all we’ve learned from and about the Bible. I’m afraid that there have been many times in my life when I’ve worked hard to increase my knowledge of the truth without allowing the truth to really change me.
This isn’t the truth at all.
If learning truth about God isn’t changing your daily life, you are (according to James) deceiving yourself. James says that anyone who looks into the law (the Bible) and PERSEVERES will be blessed. Perseverance is the art of continuing on even in the face of great adversity.Jesus never promised that living his truth would be easy. He actually compared it to “taking up a cross”. But if we are willing to persevere in the consistent application of truth to our lives, we will gradually find ourselves looking more and more like Christ.
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