James 1:22-25 - But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
I can't tell you how many times I've read this particular passage in my lifetime. The man who looks in the mirror and walks away, forgetting what he looks like. The reality we're talking about is seeing yourself for who you are and then walking away, only to forget so that you can live your illusion of who you think you might be.
Week after week, people go to church on Sunday and refocus their hearts and minds on what they think they should be and who they are. The problem is that they then don't continue to follow. They don't continue the journey. They fail to continue to see themselves each morning, praising God and following the most high. That is a journey that is lost. That is an image that is forgotten.
Only in the daily life of a believer who sees God each morning and then walks with Him each step is there that connection, that journey that makes it possible to be like Jesus.
The writer of this book is not trying to tell us that we need to be perfect in our performance of walking in the law. If that were the case, we'd still be walking in the Old Testament ways. What it is telling us is that the perfect law is to live in the presence of Christ.
What you can do is look into the eyes of Christ and live through the presence of His person. Such is the perfect place for you to be. Each day, praise God and know that He loves you.
Stay healthy and have a blessed week!
~Dean Burnetti
No comments:
Post a Comment