James 1:22-25 NIV
[22] Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. [23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. [25] But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience of having stayed up very late the night before – for whatever reason – and then woken up and looked at yourself in the mirror. It’s not always a pleasant experience – and even worse if it’s not your mirror.
You have the puffy, bloodshot eyes with bags underneath them, the saggy, droopy face, the wrinkles, the nagging feeling that you might have done something wrong...
You might think I'm boring, but I’ve been teatotal all of my life and I was never a rabid party animal when I was younger, so something like that didn’t happen very often.
However, as someone who battled with self-esteem issues for most of my teenage years, I certainly know that feeling of looking into the mirror and not liking what you see.
I even know of one pastor’s wife who confessed in a women’s group that she had to wake up every day before her husband so she had time to put her make-up on, because she never wanted him to see her without it.
To me, that is a sad state of affairs.
This post is all about reflection. Self-reflection, to be precise.
This is the time of year when we look back at the year that has gone and we review it, for good or for bad. Wise people also seek to review themselves to see what they have achieved and where they could improve.
Even wiser people do something about it.
Self-reflection, self-knowledge, self-awareness – whatever you want to call it – is a critical tool for personal growth. You cannot get better until you recognise where you went wrong and learn from it. But that takes bravery and inner strength and humility.
Traits, I have to say, that don’t seem to be present in younger generations in the West. They seem to have been educated out of them. We have successfully raised a generation that is incapable of being wrong. That is our mistake, and quite a bad one too, as it inhibits their ability to grow and mature.
But how do we do it properly, without destroying our self-esteem and sense of self?
James, the Lord’s brother, gives us three pieces of advice.
The first of these is to Reflect on the Word.
Reflect on the Word
James 1:22 NIV
[22] Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
One thing I’ve always enjoyed in fairgrounds is the Hall of Mirrors, where distorted mirrors provide you with a distorted view of yourself that shows you as fatter, thinner, taller or shorter than you actually are. A distorted mirror might be my best possibility to restore my silhouette to the stature I had when I got married, to be honest...
Those amusing mirrors conceal a very important fact: the mirror you are looking into really matters.
Nowadays, people often make themselves mentally ill by gazing into the wrong mirror. They compare themselves to celebrities, social media influencers (would-be pseudo-celebrities), stars of reality TV, models, the rich, the famous and the infamous – who rarely take seriously the responsibilities on their shoulders – and then wonder why things go wrong.
Nowadays, people have tried to undermine the influence of the Bible on everyday life, but haven’t replaced it with anything that works – because there is nothing left. That is why our society is crumbling apart.
We are gazing into the wrong mirrors, when the one we should use is right in front of us: the Word of God. If we look elsewhere, the image will be distorted, contorted and downright wrong. The only place we will get a reliable image of who we are is in the Word of God.
Nowhere else.
But how do we do that? How do we examine ourselves in the mirror of sixty-six books that were written at least two thousand yeses ago?
Consider it like this.
The books of the Law, the Wisdom literature, prophecies, the Sermon on the Mount, and even the New Testament pastoral letters, in one way or another, encourage us to follow the Ten Commandments.
Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments, and indeed the entire law, in just two:
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
[34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
If we truly want to view ourselves in the mirror of God's Word, then measuring ourselves by these commands is how we do it.
We should measure every interaction, every conversation, every intervention, against this command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our fellow human beings as we love ourselves. These three loves – for God, our fellow human being and our selves – are what it takes to follow Jesus. They are the path He calls us to walk.
So tell me, have you strayed?
It should not take us long to reach the same conclusions as Paul:
Romans 3:23 NIV
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:10 NIV
[10] As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one
It should not be a surprise to us at all if we fail the test.
So we see that at this end of year it will help us if we reflect on the Word of God and what it has to say about our thoughts, words and deeds throughout the year. But that leads us on to our second action, which is that we should Deflect Dishonesty.
Deflect Dishonesty
James 1:23-24 NIV
[23] Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror [24] and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Part of my job is to examine reports on serious problems that occur and to check that my company’s service providers are going the right thing to ensure those problems don’t happen again. For that process to work, everyone needs to be open about what happened, act with honesty and integrity, and be prepared to accept where the issue lay with them, in order that we can put the right actions in place to stop it from happening again.
In today’s litigious society, that is not easy. No-one wants to take responsibility for anything, least of all the wrongdoing that they themselves have committed.
Yet if we are to grow in our relationship with God – or even to have a relationship with God at all – we must. We must set aside any deception and be honest about who we are and what we have done. As John says:
1 John 1:5-10 NIV
[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
In the past, some have believed that we must be silent about our failings and sweep them under the carpet so that people do not think ill of the Gospel.
That is a pathetic excuse.
When we are not open and honest about our failings, what we are most concerned about is not the Gospel but our own reputation. We should never conflate the two.
When we are honest about who we are, admit to our failings, confess our sins and repent, that is when the Gospel prospers.
Why?
Because we are applying it to ourselves. We are truly living what we believe. We are demonstrating the right thing to do when we realise that we are doing the wrong thing. As Solomon said:
Proverbs 28:13 NIV
[13] Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
If this looks difficult, that’s because it is.
If it looks painful, that’s because it is.
Sin is a cancer. If you have cancer, you cannot cure your cancer by denying that you have it. That is sheer folly. You must realise you have it and seek treatment.
So yes, examining yourself and being brutally honest about your failing to love God, your fellow human being and your self in the year that has passed is difficult and painful – and best done alone with God. But this is the kind of radical surgery that helps us slowly escape the cancerous tumour of sin.
This is how we grow.
But as well as reflecting on the Word and deflecting dishonesty, there is one last thing we must do. We must Obey What You See.
Obey What You See
James 1:25 NIV
[25] But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Everyone wanting to pass their driving test in the country where I live has to demonstrate a good knowledge of road signs and signals: what they mean and what a driver should do if they see them. However, that is not enough to pass their driving test. They still have to demonstrate that they can obey them.
James makes a really interesting point here. You see, learning about God is important. That’s why we should be in church on Sundays and participate in Bible studies and ensure that we have time for daily readings and meditations every day.
But it is not enough.
We must obey it.
That means looking intently at something which may, at some point, make us uncomfortable by showing up flaws and mistakes and sins. It means being willing to stare into the light of the Word and let it examine us.
It means being vulnerable to God.
It means seeing ourselves in the mirror of His Word, not forgetting what we have seen, and acting on it, even if it is inconvenient and hard.
You see, people who are religious – who attend church and prayer meetings and so on – often make a huge mistake. We often believe that our faith is all about turning up and ticking boxes.
But that is not true.
Our faith is about much more than that. It is about obedience to God every day.
As Samuel told Saul:
1 Samuel 15:22 NIV
[22] But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Or Isaiah stated, in a searing indictment against his people:
Isaiah 1:11-20 NIV
[11] “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. [12] When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? [13] Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. [14] Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. [15] When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! [16] Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. [17] Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. [18] “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. [19] If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; [20] but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Do you see it? Do you see it?
Obedience is the key, not religious observance. As Jesus Himself said:
John 14:15 NIV
[15] “If you love me, keep my commands.
Obedience is not fashionable. It is not trendy. It is not cool.
But it is one hundred percent necessary.
Conclusion
Finding an area of our life where we need to change is a bit like spotting a possible melanoma or a suspicious swelling. They are unsightly. They cause us worry and concern. Knowing they are there is one thing. But what we do next is critically important.
We must deal with it. Properly and completely.
Otherwise we will suffer later.
An illustration I have used many times is being on the bridge of a giant cruise ship. It’s quite an experience. It’s interesting to see how such a massive, heavy vessel can easily be knocked off course by the currents, the tides and the wind, and how, during its journey, the bridge officers have to change course slightly to stop it from drifting to where it should not be.
It isn’t always easy to reflect on what we have thought, said and done. It can be painful. But if we are drifting away from God and His people, the wise thing to do is to stop that drifting before it becomes a major problem. The wise thing to do is repent of those sins before they overwhelm us.
So what do we do?
We reflect on the Word of God. We deflect dishonesty and deal with where we ourselves went wrong. And we obey what we see. We gaze into the Word of God. We see where we went wrong. We fix it.
Because sometimes we will look in the mirror of God’s Word and we will be encouraged. But sometimes we will see things that we need to change.
The important thing is that we keep looking.
Because only the mirror of God’s Word shows objects as they really are.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I want to gaze deeply into Your Word and see myself as I am. Help me to see who I really am, who You want me to be, and what You want me to do to become that person. Amen.
Questions
Why should we look deeply into the mirror of God’s Word? What does this mean?
What should we do when we see who we truly are?
How is this different from making a New Year’s Resolution? Are you ready to see yourself in this way?
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