temptation

For 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. James 1:23,24

Today’s verse seems like an odd comparison. If we listen to the Word and don’t live out the message we hear, we become like the person who looks in the mirror and then forgets what they look like. If we look at the Word…if we gaze upon Jesus and all He is…and forget what we saw, it’s as unnatural as forgetting what we look like… if we’re not doing all the things Jesus did there’s a problem.

2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us that “we with unveiled faces behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into his same image… This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” When we look in a mirror what do we see? We see what we look like. And Paul is telling us here Who our mirror is to be. It is to be Jesus. John puts it this way: “as He is so are we in this world” (l Jn 4:17).

Getting back to today’s verse, keep in mind that James doesn’t say, “Hey, you should be ashamed of yourself.” Or “You pathetic person.” Or “Be condemned!” Or “Try harder.” He gets down to the real problem: We’ve been given Jesus’ divine nature (2 Pet 1:14). So when we look in the mirror (spiritually speaking) we should be seeing Jesus. And to forget what we look like becomes the root of our problem in conquering sin. (more…)