It's not what you know or what you say, but what you do

James 1:21-25 (NIV)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.   But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. 

The book of James has been called the most practical book of the Bible and these verses are a good example of its practicality.  The focus here is action.  It’s not what you know or what you say, it’s what you do.  James later says “faith without works is dead”.  The emphasis of James throughout his 5-chapter book is conduct, what you do daily with your life, not what you know or what you say.  You can claim anything about who you are, but the proof of who you are, what you contribute and why others can believe that you are Christlike is what you do and how you live your life. 

There are seven symbols of the Bible—sword (Heb 4:12), hammer (Jer 23:29), seed (I Peter 1:23), fire (Jer 20:9), lamp (Ps 119:105), food (I Peter 2:2), and a mirror (this passage).  What does a mirror do?  It shows who you are; it reflects where you need to make yourself more presentable.  Yet you have to do something about it.  If you look into the mirror, it may show that you need to shave, that you have a pimple that needs to be popped and medicated, that your hair is a mess and needs to be cleaned and combed.  But, the mirror does not make these changes for you; it does not make you presentable to the world.  You have to react to what you see in the mirror.  You can ignore what the mirror shows you and go about living your life, but the flaws that the mirror showed remain. 

While the mirror shows who you are physically, the Bible shows who you are spiritually, morally, and ethically.  The Bible itself cannot change you, it can only point out where changes in your life need to be made, but you have to take action to make those changes.  You can ignore or forget what the spiritual mirror shows you, but then you remain with all your flaws and weaknesses.  A mirror for you is different than a mirror for someone else.  Rabbi Harold Kushner said that God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it sees something different.

So what James is saying here is that when you hear the word of God preached, or taught or read the Bible yourself, you will learn of aspects of your life that you need to change or you need to do.  Then you have to take action and do what the word of God revealed to you.

The next time you look at yourself in a mirror, think about the following.  Are you deceiving yourself morally and spiritually?  Are you ignoring what you know the word of God is saying for you to start doing or stop doing?  Are you a true believer or a hypocrite?  Reacting positively to what the mirror of God tells you will have its rewards.  Note what the end of this passage says---by continuing to allowing the mirror of God—His Word—to have an impact on your life, by reacting to what you learn and doing something about it, not ignoring or forgetting about it, you will be blessed in what you do.  May you experience the wonderful blessings that happen to a person who is not a forgetter, but a doer of the word of God.