"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."
When we stare into a mirror we see a reflection of what we physically look like, but it is only a physical reflection and not a spiritual one which James points to. That reflection is demonstrated in our application of Scripture which God always sees but those around us may or may not.
James states in his example that this man's look or stare into the mirror is intense. It is not a glance but an intentional act of measurement, yet I wonder how often we intensely stare into our hearts and quantify. Do we pull back the curtain and let light in to expose the dark nuances of our lives, or do we remain in the shadows where sin quietly destroys?
I believe it is ridiculous commonplace in the church to wear an artificial mask to cover our true self from public shame and ridicule. For if others saw our failures and insecurities, would they disassociate from us? In truth, our natural face is simply a reflection of our natural heart, but how quickly we forget what our hearts look like when we choose sin over righteousness. In those moments, we forget that our identity is IN christ, and therefore the reflection of Jesus in the mirror is replaced by self.
Make no mistake, forgetting this truth is thwarting our unity in the body of Christ and allowing secular theology to confuse and displace us as if we were the tower of Babel. The enemy is winning and we are idly standing by and allowing it to happen because we have forgotten our identity as Christ-followers. Therefore we must not concern ourselves with outward adornment but inward sanctification. Because if we desire to win souls for Christ, we must begin living from the inside-out and unashamed of God's Word, to displace cultural skepticism with authentic application of Scripture.
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