James speaks throughout
his epistle about faith and works. In James 1:21-25 he says the person who considers
him or herself a Christian, but does not show it through actions deceives him
or herself. He uses the image of looking at one’s reflection in a mirror to
explain this. Let’s examine this closer.
James begins this passage
with a command. He said in the middle of verses twenty-one, “receive the word
implanted.” Each person from the moment they accept Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior receives His Holy Spirit who empowers the person to live with His power
to avoid and overcome Satan and His temptations to sin. James said the power of
Jesus’ death and resurrection can save every person’s soul from eternal death -
separation from God forever. He strongly encourages believers to put aside every
wicked and filthy action, thought, and word, those things that defile and
dishonor a person.
What can cause a person to
defile or dishonor him or herself as a Christian? When a person does, speaks,
or thinks anything that is impure and contrary to righteousness, a
righteousness that is defined by the character of God. Being undefiled, being a
Christian, requires action. Satan constantly combats the Christian and each of
us must actively go against him with the power Jesus Christ implants in us when
we trust in Him. Combating Satan is not just speaking against him, but
acting and speaking for God and living like Jesus lived while on earth. James
meant this in verse twenty-two when he said, “But prove yourselves doers of the
word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” If you do not turn away
from the temptations Satan puts before you and intentionally do the things God would
have you do, you may be reckoning wrongly that you received salvation through
Jesus Christ. Alternatively, if you truly trust you are a Christian, you are
not living out your faith. Of those people, God said He would spit them out of
His mouth because they were neither hot nor cold (Revelation 3:16).
Being a Christian means actively
and intentionally following God and becoming more Christlike. James compares a
believer who just hears the Word of God, but does not act upon it to a person
who looks in the mirror. That person sees his or her face and then forgets what
he or she looks like upon leaving the mirror. It appears impossible to forget
what one looks like and yet Christians do that, James said. What we find James
says in verses twenty-four to be more than that though. Two words help us see
he speaks of something deeper. The verb “gone away” comes from the Greek word aperchomai. This word means departing
and following another one, someone not God. Did you hear that? When the person
who looked in the mirror turned away from the mirror, he or she no longer
followed God, but someone else – him or herself or someone else, but not God. The
other word in this verse we should understand is “forgotten.” It comes from the
Greek word hopoios and means to no
longer care for or neglect. Putting these words together in this verse means
that the person looks in the mirror (God’s Word) and recognizes him or herself as
God’s child, but then turns away from the mirror and neglects or forgets God just
to follow his or her own desires even by following another person. Following is
active, not passive. It is more than mental assent.
James contrasts this
forgetful person in verse twenty-five with the person who intently follows God.
He said, “But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of
liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual
doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” At the beginning of this
verse, James says, “The one who looks at the perfect law.” This metaphor contrasts
with the person who looks in the mirror in verse twenty-four. This metaphor
means to look carefully and inspect curiously so to become acquainted. It means
to examine closely to study and know the word of God intending to follow and
obey Him. A person, by continuing to gaze in the mirror, the word of God, grows
closer to God and becomes more Christlike. That person, by looking at the
perfect law, the law of God that needs nothing to be complete and perfect, grows
toward perfection in Jesus Christ. That one lives by the law of liberty and is
free from the power of sin and death. Temptations become less compelling as the
person gets closer to perfection, which only comes through Christ.
Besides continuing to stay
and look in the mirror, the word of God, the believer who does not forget his
or her face in the mirror abides by the word. The first action of a believer is
to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior. The second act is to stay
in the word and not turn away from God. Keep growing in the image of Jesus
Christ, not neglecting or forgetting God. Remain in Him. The third act is to
abide in the perfect law. Abiding requires more than reading, meditating, and
learning the word, but acting upon it, living it out in one’s life. These last
two things are what James calls being an effectual doer of the word.
Do we have to do things to
become Christians? No. Nothing we can ever do would be good enough to erase our
sins from us and allow us to be in the presence of Holy God. Yet James says our
faith, if genuine, will live out in visible ways our belief in Jesus Christ and
the implantation of His Holy Spirit. Our lives will show in our actions and
words we stay in the word - we do not turn away and forget God, but stay near
to Him and reflect His glory in what we do and say. For that person, James
says, “This man will be blessed in what he does.” God will bless the person who
lives out his or her faith in Jesus Christ with righteous, just, and loving
works. John affirms this teaching, too. John recorded in John 13:17
Jesus’ teaching His disciples about serving other people, “If you know these
things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Has your faith in Jesus
Christ as your Savior gone beyond the mental assent stage? Remember, demons believe
that God is one and shudder (James 2:19). Even they know Jesus Christ is God’s
Son and is the Savior. Are you shallow like the demons and just believe God
exists? Or has your faith gone deeper and does it affect your life? Do you stay
focused on God and His word? Do you take the word deeply into your being so your
actions and words show those of Jesus Christ? Do your actions and words show
the righteousness and love of God?
We each must get to the
point in our walk with Jesus Christ where we do and become more than a person
who assents God and His Son, Jesus Christ, exist. Our belief must show we are
effectual doers of the Word and not only hearers who turn away and immediately
forget the person we are – a child of God bought with the price of His
Son’s blood so we can be sin free and live with Him forever. Are you there yet?
Are you a doer and not just a hearer? I urge you to take the time now to
recommit your life to God and give more than mental assent. God waits for you.
