James 1:19-2:13

This is from an artist named Anna based in Germany
annamachtart.tumblr.com

Something exciting happened this weekend! My family came to visit me! It was a good visit but it was also pretty hard because instead of being a fruitful week filled with family fun it was pretty stressful instead and I actually didn’t get to see them that much because of a lot of events that took place during the weekend (like work and church). We did all watch Parasite together (a phenomenal movie) which was nice but then on Sunday night I was left behind in a pile of homework that I neglected because of them. I know this sounds bad. I love my family but this visit was pretty stressful.

This week during one of my quiet times I studied James 1:19-2:13. James offers a lot of practical advice that when you read it you think “wow, of course, anyone could come to that conclusion”. But in actuality, the real question is, are you putting the things that you’re reading into practice. One thing that really stood out to me in these verses, specifically verses 1:23-24 which says, “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.” These verses are really interesting to me because of their truth. The book that I’m studying along with James describes these verses like this, “And I can guarantee you that as soon as I saw what the mirror revealed, I fixed the problem! Never in a million years would I have seen the problem, shrugged my shoulders, and walked away from the mirror without fixing what was wrong. Knowledge of the problem was not enough; I needed to do something about it.”

I really love that last line. “Knowledge of the problem was not enough; I needed to do something about it”. In my own life, there are many problems and sins that I’m confronted with that I don’t do anything about. I see them in my metaphorical mirror and then I walk away. But it’s not enough for me to just know about the problem anymore. To be more like Christ, I need to stop simply looking in the mirror, admiring the reflecting, and walking away. Instead, I need to see the imperfections, look at God’s Word (the Bible) and pray the God would conform myself more to his Word. This goes for anything in my life. From being controlling and angry towards my roommates to being apathetic about what my future job might be. I see the faults in my life but I need to decide what active steps am I taking to correct these things? Sometimes (most times) the steps to correct the faults will be hard but I know it will be worth it when I come out more like Christ on the other side.