James 1:17-27
17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.
21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
When I was a young child, I was fascinated by mirrors, and I would spend a lot of time looking in mirrors. My stepmother thought it was the strangest thing; we could be in the mall about to go up the escalator of a department store; if there was a mirror on the support beam in front of the escalator, I was going to look. I would want to see what was going on with my face. How is my mustache coming in? Do I have any pimples, any visitors in my nose? I just wanted to make sure I looked ok.
Studies show that people check the mirror as much as 40 times a day. For some, looking in a mirror is simply a matter of gathering data; for others, it's to confirm the worst. We can always find a mirror, and perhaps that's why we take mirrors for granted. We use them for practical purposes and décor. When driving, good drivers check their side mirrors and rearview mirrors for safety reasons. We use mirrors to reflect light. And we use mirrors before going on a date to see how we look. When we don't have a mirror, some of us will take out a cellphone and put it in "selfie mode" to ensure we are together.
We also use mirrors in our language; when a child looks like their parent, we say they look like a reflection of the parent. When we want someone to reflect on their actions, we tell them to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror.
Theologian Sean Carter said, "I'm a mirror. If you're cool with me, I'm cool with you, and the exchange starts. What you see is what you reflect. If you don't like what you see, then you've done something." – Jay-Z
But what about the mirror that the apostle James used 2,000 years ago? That kind of mirror was not a piece of glass coated with silver nitrate. The mirror James spoke of was probably a piece of polished bronze or copper. Whatever it was, there's no doubt that his readers knew what a mirror was.
Mirrors had been around long before James wrote his letter to the Christians of the diaspora. Artifacts dating to 6,000 B.C. tell us that the early communities used polished stones as mirrors before going to their equivalent of Walmart.
James was writing to people spread out all over the land when he wrote his letter, and he wrote this letter to make things clear to believers. Faith is about action: a small book with a bunch of powerful statements in it. James was short with his words, very blunt, and said that if you are a believer, you should not have to say so; your actions should speak for you. James was not saying we should not evangelize but that our Christian life should be more than just saying the right things; we must do the right things as well. If somebody is all talk and no action, they are just like people who look at themselves in the mirror and forget what they saw.
James tells us to be doers of the word and not hearers only; the time has ended for us as believers to go to church, say "that was a great sermon" or "worship was good today" and not do something to reflect the change in us. For faith to be genuine, it must translate into deeds; otherwise, we lie to ourselves. If we are believers, we should listen more than we speak and not get angry so quickly. James says that our anger does not produce God's righteousness. How we treat people reflects what type of Christian we are. That is why James says we need to bridle our tongues.
We are to welcome the word of God into our lives and let it take root; that way, we can be good Christians to ourselves and others. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ does not mean we exclude others. James said that true religion is to take care of widows and orphans. Those are people in the bible who at the time could not care for themselves. If your behavior matches that of a good Christian, you should have no problems looking yourself in the mirror.
Looking in the mirror is a good thing, but only if we act according to the data the mirror has furnished. Otherwise, looking in the mirror is a waste of time.
We become better versions of ourselves, and the world becomes a better place when we look into God's mirror — the perfect law — and act on what we see. James alludes to looking in the mirror when he applauds those who can bridle the tongue. He refers to working on what we see when he argues that a Christian who takes care of orphans and widows in distress is a practitioner of "true religion."
James gives us a call to action: let us investigate the mirror and act on what we see. When we do, we will be better for it, and so will our neighborhoods, communities, and our part of the world.
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