What Reflects Us? 5-20-2019 BLL
What
Reflects us?
“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:23-25)
There
is no magic associated with the Word of God. It is not based upon
magic. Certainly a mirror can reflect physical imperfections if they
exist. Spiritual distortions can only be viewed and evaluated by the
Holy Spirit using the Holy recorded Word of God. There is no gain in
possessing a mirror. Mirrors hold no magic or curses and breaking one
does not yield seven years bad luck as the old wives tail go. What a
mere reflecting piece of glass cannot do as a mirror, the Holy Spirit
can reveal real truths concerning each of us. The biblical looking
glass can bring great blessing. He who reads or hears the Word, but
does not believe or obey it, is “a forgetful
hearer” (v. 25) who is deceiving himself. It is these who
merely discovers and “behold”
themselves in the Word and shrug it away as normal inefficiencies; no
one can keep it are not only forgetful but willingly disrespectful to
Father God. The Greek word used here for “beholding” and
“beholdeth” means “looking from a distance”—standing erect,
as it were, while posing before the mirror. The man who “looketh
into” the Word, on the other hand, “and continueth therein,”
being an obedient doer of its work, is the one who receives eternal
blessing and life everlasting. The Greek word here for “looketh”
conveys the idea of intense scrutiny, requiring the one who is
looking actually to stoop down in order to see. One must stand tall
to see afar off but the close loker must stoop down close to the
reflection to know it’s truths.
As
we allow the mirror of God’s Word to evaluate and correct our
lives,
“we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord” (2
Corinthians 3:18).
Yet
this is only a token of what we can experience in the future.
“For now we (as
John wrote)
see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”
(1 Corinthians 13:12). Now we can see ourselves in the written Word.
When we see the living Word,
“we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1
John 3:2)
Think
not that a glance now and then into Gods written word will be
sufficient to sustain you in good graces with yourself and God. A
casual opening and closing of the Word of God builds little if any
faith. We must apply ourselves to a study of the Word to grow
spiritually. To please God, we must do more than simply peep into His
love letters. Know peace, know God. Amen 5-20-2019
BLL
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