Today’s Reading : James 1: 22-2
KEY VERSE:
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.” Jms 1: 22
My little girl loves looking in the mirror but I confess that, as I get older, I’m less inclined to spend time studying my reflection, probably because I don’t like what I see as much as my daughter does!
This passage in James tells us that reading the bible is like looking in a mirror. As we read, we start to see those blemishes and wrinkles come into focus! Now, I can’t do too much about my wrinkles in the natural, but praise God – we can certainly be made beautiful in the spiritual, through the precious blood of Jesus!! But listen to what James is saying in verse 24 - imagine I look in the mirror and see that I have a massive smear of mud on my face, and then I look away and immediately forget all about it!! That would be like reading the bible and forgetting what it has shown me, and doing nothing about it!!
So if were to read on later in the book of James about the taming of the tongue, and in those verses I start to realise that I am guilty of using my tongue in a way that can hurt others, but I simply close my bible, forget what I’ve read and don’t change anything about the way I use my words, then it would just be like leaving that big smear of mud on my face.
The bible is there to show us the things that, with God’s help, we can change, whether it’s our words, our behaviours, our fears. Jesus has cleansed us from our sin through his death on the cross, but every day through the Spirit and His word, we can grow to be more and more like Him.
ACTION STEPS
• Don’t be like those who read the word and forget what it says. Why not start a journal to write down what God has been showing you as you read each day.
• Ask God to reveal any ‘muddy smears’ and for his help to live differently.
• Start storing God’s word. Why not challenge yourself (and your family) to memorise a verse this week? You could start with Psalm 119:11. And then why not memorise a different verse next week, and the next …