A Look in the Mirror

A Look in the Mirror

by Rick Renner

I remember once, not long after we had started our Moscow church, I was talking to this woman, and I asked her to tell me a bit about herself, and immediately she threw her head and shoulders back and said, “I am very spiritual.” 

I was shocked that anyone would introduce him or herself in such a way, so I asked her, “Really? Why are you so spiritual?” 

She told me, “I have been to more Bible schools probably than anybody you’ve ever met,” and she started listing all these Bible schools that she had attended and studied at, one after another.

When she finished, I asked, “Really? Where do you serve? Where are you a church member?” 

She said, “I’m not a member of a church, and I don’t serve anywhere, but I know everything.” 

The reason I tell you this story is because there are a lot of people like this. They may not all be so obvious, but they are there. They think that just because they have all the right knowledge, they are spiritual people, but friend, that is not true

In fact, James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” If all you do is hear without doing, you’re deceiving yourself if you think that you have somehow fulfilled your responsibility.

That’s why it’s important for us to understand what it means to be doers of the Word, and it starts with understanding the contrast with being “hearers only.” That phrase is very, very important, and it is actually a term that James borrowed from the world of the university. 

In every ancient university, just like today, there were two kinds of students. There were serious students who were working hard, studying, and implementing what they learned because they were there to get credit for their studies. But then there were students who paid a small price so they could just sit in on a class. They went because their friends were there, because they didn’t have anything else to do, or because it was interesting to go. After the class, they would even discuss the lecture and what they agreed or disagreed with, but they were not there for credit. They were hearers only.

We have the same two crowds in every congregation: There are those who come ready to learn and to apply what’s been preached the moment they walk out the door, and there are those who come to church because their friends are there, they have nothing else to do, and they want to be where everyone else is. They listen to the Word and say, “Amen! Now that’s interesting,” but when they walk out of church, they don’t intend to do anything about it. They think they have fulfilled their responsibility just because they showed up.

I want you to understand this: Responsibility begins when you walk out the door, not when you come in. When you walk out of church, that’s when it’s time to do what has been preached. If it’s a message on forgiveness, it’s time to forgive. If it’s a message on love, it’s time to love. If it’s a message about work, it’s time to work. That is how we fulfill our responsibility.

If we’re not viewing it like that, James describes what we are like in James 1:23-24: “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”

On the other hand, James says, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25).

In these verses, James uses two different examples of mirrors, and the first is in verse 23, when he talks about “a man beholding his natural face in a glass.” This word “glass” describes a small mirror, a mirror that you would hold in your hand, and since it is so small, you can’t use it to look at your whole body. You can only use this mirror to look at one area at a time.

When you’re listening to the Word of God, reading the Bible, or praying, the Holy Spirit might all of a sudden speak to you and show you an area of your life that is wrong. Maybe it’s not very horrible, but you definitely have a defect, and at that moment, the Holy Spirit speaks to you only about that specific defect.

Aren’t you thankful that the Holy Spirit does not put you in front of a full-length mirror and show you everything wrong all at once? Instead He puts that little hand mirror in front of you and says, “I want you to focus on this. This is what I want to talk to you about. Let’s look at this. Let’s fix this.” It might seem like such a little thing, but I have learned that when the Lord shows you something to fix, you’re not going to move any further until you deal with it.

If you don’t, you end up like the man that James is describing in verse 24. He looks at himself, sees the issue, and understands it, but rather than deal with it and change, he just goes on his way and straightway forgets what he saw.

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever experienced a moment when the Holy Spirit held up the mirror to you, and you saw the issue, recognized it, and even admitted that it needed work? Now, have you ever had one of those moments and responded to it by saying, “Yeah, I see it. I know God, but I don’t have time to think about it now. I’ve got lunch in a few minutes. I don’t have time to really pray. I’ll come back to this, God”? The problem is that so many times, we get to the end of the day, and we can’t even remember what the Lord showed us or summon up the same conviction that He gave us.

Friend, the Bible tells us not to receive the grace of God in vain or frustrate it (see 2 Corinthians 6:1 and Galatians 2:21). When God speaks to you and shows you something — when He puts the mirror in front of you — that is the most important thing in your life. In that moment, you have to stop and say, “This is the highest priority.” Find a place to pray — go to the bathroom, the car, or the hallway. Tell your friends you need five minutes. Do whatever you need to do, but don’t just see and then forget. The Holy Spirit is trying to change you, and your responsibility is not just to hear — it’s to respond, to be a doer of the Word. 

That leads us into the second mirror idea in this passage, which is in verse 25: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

The phrase “look into” in the Greek literally means to lean over a table and to look into a table mirror, and from that image, we see the difference between a hearer and a doer. The hearer says, “Oh, yeah, I see that, but I don’t have time to deal with it right now. Maybe later.” But a doer, when he sees something that needs to change, he says “Wait a minute. I want to see this better.” He leans over the table into a bigger mirror so he can really look at what needs to be fixed.

What he’s looking into is “the perfect law of liberty,” the Word of God. Friend, the Word is your mirror, and I promise you that if you will look into it, you will definitely see the defects in your life. But if you will determine in your heart, “I’m not leaving this Word. I’m not leaving this law until it changes me,” then it will bring freedom into your life from every defect.

But James doesn’t just say to look. He says, “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein…” (James 1:25). This tells us that we’re not totally transformed the first time we take a look. There are certain areas of your temperament and your character that you’ll need to continue looking at if you want to see real change. But if you do, not only will you be transformed, but this verse says, “This man shall be blessed in his deed.”

This is going to take work, friend. That’s why James says not just that we need to be “doers” but “doers of the work.” For you to do the Word of God, it’s going to take your effort, your energy, and your commitment. You’re going to have to change your thinking and see what’s wrong in yourself. It doesn’t happen by accident, but if you’re willing to pay the price to change, in the end, you’ll be blessed.