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This morning while blow drying my hair, a thought came to me. I know, I know, Lisa & Tim, that is amazing in itself that I even had a thought. I will say it for you:))) But a thought I had! Ever realize how much we look at ourselves? I mean like physically look at ourselves. Think about this….

Every morning we get ourselves ready for the day. How? By looking in the mirror while we wash our faces, blow dry our hair, moisturize our faces, brush our teeth, perhaps shave (if  we are a guy), pluck our eyebrows – I was going to say if we are a girl but there are some unibrows that could use some plucking too, lololol – we put our makeup on, and check once more. And that is all before we leave the house. Then how many times in the course of the day do we check ourselves – in the rear view mirror, in store windows, in the ladies room, in the men’s room, etc. Why do we do this? What is it that we expect would have changed? This whole thought of checking our reflections in mirrors got me to thinking. In James 1, we are told this…

“Do not merely listen to the word, & so deceive yourselves. Do what is 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 & after looking at himself, goes away & immediately forgets what he looks like.” (v. 22-24).

James is telling us that we are to do more than the cursory once over. The Greek word is describing an “attentive scrutiny of an object”. When I look at myself in the mirror in this way, I become thoroughly familiar with how I am looking that day. And that is what God is instructing us to do – become familiar with His Word, with His instruction. It is not to be an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of thing.

As I thought to how James says, “& so deceive yourselves”, the picture that came to my mind was of “The House of Mirrors” at any given amusement park. Remember those? Depending on which mirror you were looking into, your appearance changed – it became elongated, or widened, or distorted.

      

Those images were not reality. It was only as you found the correct mirror that you were able to see what you truly looked like. So it is with life.

As I look into His word, intently, “firmly directed, earnestly, having a purpose firmly fixed in the looking, then I will see myself, I will see life the way that God wills. This is to  be something that I do continually. James continues to tell us..

“BUT the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, & continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” (v. 25).

I think the question that needs to be asked is this –

“Do I want to be blessed in what I do?”

Then I need to be in His Word continually, intently, not forgetting what is being reflected to me in & through His Word. So take a good look today. And don’t forget what you have seen! Let me help you….

                                  


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