Reflections on Reflections

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror; for he looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. – James 1:22-24

Many years ago Mack Davis sang about how hard it is to be humble when one is “perfect in every way”. The subject of the song asserted that he could not wait to look in the mirror because he got better looking each day. For many of us, holding in our minds an image of what we look like in the mirror, especially first thing in the morning, is probably not a good idea. The looking glass on the bathroom wall is not a true reflection of who I am. (Thank God!) One obstacle is that the reflection is two dimensional. I have learned, over the years, how to interpret the flat image so I can see the depth, but I can be fooled, just as we are often fooled by movie model-makers and their sets. But the mirror image is deceptive in more important ways. The mirror shows only the outside, which is getting a little time-worn, as I mentioned yesterday. In fact, I’m glad I didn’t have to pay a security deposit on this body because I don’t think I’d be getting it back.

If I want to see a true reflection of who I am I need to forget the mirror and go to the Bible. Often we talk as if the Scripture presents an ideal, a very lofty perfection which we should strive toward but never expect to really achieve “in this life”. I suppose that is true, in a way, but it is misleading. Instead, as we study the Word we see ourselves as we are in reality, or, Reality. We are not being saved; we are saved – we just haven’t fully realized it yet. We know that Christ is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Colossians 3:1), and, if we are in Him, we are right there as well.

I am not what the mind parasites or the devil says I am. I am not what the world says I am. I am not even what my reflection in the mirror, my friends, my family, or my spouse says I am.

I am what the word of God says I am. And the best reflection of who I am can be seen in the Gospels – not in Peter, not in John or Andrew, Philip, or even Judas, but in Jesus. The Lord came and said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Whose life? Not God’s, but man’s. Though He was God before, during and after the Incarnation, He became a man, referring to Himself most often as the Son of Man. Jesus reveals to us the truth about ourselves. He shows us humanity’s true way of life. Jesus says that for us to live as He lived is to be true to ourselves.

We have, as James points out, forgotten what we are. The world is full of distractions to keep us from remembering. Some would have us believe we are mere animals, or even less than animals. Some will tell us we are slaves. Our addictions and our habits whisper lies to us day and night. Intense emotions and passions course through us reinforcing illusions – both fantastically fair and frightfully foul. If we want to stay in bondage to the material world, we’ll get plenty of help.

But if, one day, we wake up and decide that freedom is better than slavery, that reality is preferable to illusion, there is a Way home: Live the Life of Jesus.

Do what Jesus did.

Not in some maudlin, sappy, melodramatic, in-His-steps-WWJD attempt to “please God” or “do the right thing” or “help others”. That is stupid socialist religious bullshit.

Do it because that is by God who you are. Do it so you won’t forget who you are.

But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts – this person will be blessed in what he does (James 1:25).