James 1:22-24— Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
As we conclude our “Doors” series, these verses in James have been running through my mind. And I suspect they have been on several others’ minds as well as I’ve heard many of you share similar thoughts. Over the past month we have been challenged to go out and reach our world, sharing the love of Jesus. We’ve talked about it quite a bit. Some of us have put these words into action and have started, in very simple steps, to connect with people and engage them in the “truth of the gospel” as Paul shared in Galatians 2. Yet we all know how easy it is to hear things and never act on them. James even warns us of this danger!
I love the illustration he uses. We start everyday looking into the mirror…making sure our hair is in order, our clothes match, and our smiles shine. We walk away from these brief examinations with the comfort of knowing we are ready for the day and can go forth and do what needs to be done without fear of broccoli in our teeth or any other traumatizing snafu. But if we immediately forget what we’ve seen in the mirror, we become trapped in worry or in unending repeat trips to the mirror that make us inactive for the rest of the day.
This is the trap that we so often catches us in our faith walks. We can become so focused on checking ourselves spiritually, on talking about how we should be living and what we should be doing, that we miss out on actually doing anything at all! Let us be known as a church of action! As a body of believers who not only gather to worship Christ and study His Words on Sundays but also go and do the very things Jesus tells us to do!
What is He calling you to do? Have you spent time praying about it? Have you spent time talking it over with your spouse or small group? Great! Now get to work! Do what God is calling you to do…go open doors, go share your faith story, go tell others how much Jesus loves them!
Let’s get to work and be the light on the hill that God has called us to be!
In Christ Alone,
Pastor Jan