Reflections from God

“If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” –James 1:23-24 My wife uses a simple tool to remind me of things that I tend to forget – she writes a note and sticks it on the bathroom mirror. After a few weeks the easily forgotten task is embedded in my memory, and the note can be removed—usually.



My first response in seeing a new note is often anger and resentment; who is she to tell me what to do? I have a tendency to look at my reflection to the left or right of the note, or even lift it up out of the way, so I can shave or comb my hair. In doing so, I forget why the note was placed in my way to begin with. When I realize that she doesn’t write the notes to anger me, but to lovingly confront me and reveal her heart to me, I switch from anger to submission. Yes, I frequently forget the task on the note, but so far, I have not received a note that says, “read previous note.”

Hearing (or not hearing) God’s message is like this. God’s Word is like a mirror. God places information right in front of our face that will help us. When we see or hear His personal message, we often feel anger and resentment, thinking, “who does he think he is?” Excuse me. He’s God and you are not.

Our agenda and God’s agenda often conflict. This causes us to ignore God’s personal message, while we focus on achieving our daily schedule. Then, when we turn away from God’s mirror, everything seems fine, because God is “out of sight, out of mind.”

The mirror of God’s Word does not focus on the external, but on the internal. Our problem is that we don’t like seeing our external blemishes, much less having the defects and blemishes in our moral character exposed by the Surgeon’s knife.

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12

Do you look in your bathroom mirror only twice a year? With each visit, you would see more and more problems. Fixing those problems would begin to take more and more effort. Pretty soon, you would probably give up going to the mirror. It would be way too much time, trouble and heartache.

When we choose to only seek God on special holidays, we find it uncomfortable. Especially if God’s messenger holds up a mirror so that we see our spiritual condition, as God folds back our stubborn heart to expose how He sees us.

Maybe this  is a reason people don’t like going to church – they can’t bear the pain of what they see inside themselves, nor do they know where to start in the painful cleanup process to fix what is wrong in their lives. Instead, they choose teachers who do not stir their conscience with God’s truth.

“The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” –2 Timothy 4:3-4

Despite our rebellion, God’s will for us is that we will all come to the knowledge of His Truth (1 Timothy 2:4). He sends messengers our way who are steeped in His wisdom and proclaim His truth in love. They might be your neighbors, a friend on the internet or an article in the newspaper, but God is trying to get through. 

Will you react to them in anger thinking, “Who do they think they are? They don’t have a right to tell me how to run my life!” 

Do not choose to ignore sound, life-changing, and often life-saving advice, because it does not fit your lifestyle. There are consequences for not heeding God’s counsel –“… they shall eat the fruit of their own way” (read Proverbs 1:22-33).

Look in the mirror. Do you need to clean up your life? One way to start is by reading one chapter of Proverbs every day and apply what you read, making changes in your life.

“He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” – James 1: 25

Pastor Jay Merritt