Mirror, Mirror On the Wall

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

  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.

James 1:19-25

Ever so often, we need to take a good, long look at ourselves in a mirror, so to speak.  This mirror is different than a typical mirror we might use.  This mirror is God's Word....the Bible....and the reflection we should see of ourselves should be the image of Jesus.

The passage above gives us a checklist of what we should be seeing.  There are other checklists we could use throughout the Bible, but today we will just look at this small passage.  Take the time to reflect on your image today.  Ask yourself these questions:

#1:  Am I quick to listen?

#2:  Am I slow to become angry?

#3:  Have I gotten rid of all moral filth?

#4:  Is there any evil in my life?

#5: Have I accepted the word that has been planted in me?  (Have I submitted my life to God/Jesus? Have I obeyed the gospel? (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 1 Peter 4:17)

#6:  Or have I heard the Word of God, but not done anything about it?

#7:  Am I doing what God's Word says to do, or am I deceiving myself?

#8:  Am I remembering what God has done for me?

#9:  Am I recognizing the fact that the blessings in my life are from God?

A small passage and a checklist, but what questions are raised through these verses!  Don't forget to check yourself in the mirror from time to time.  Not your own mirror - but God's mirror.  The mirror of His Word.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12