The Mirror
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
1:23 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:
1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
1:25 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.
1Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. Remember, the Bible is a love letter from God and it is a book that teaches about the spiritual God.
James uses the example of a mirror (“glass”) to let us know that the word of God is to let us see ourselves as God sees us. Paul uses the same analogy as the way that we perceive reality. Our world gives us a cloudy (“darkly”) understanding of what’s real. What we think we know about God is just a mirage, because we can’t really perceive Him in all of His greatness and glory.
As humans, we like to think that our world is solid and perfectly stable. God wants us to know that the spiritual aspects of our lives are what are truly real. The things we think to be real will just “vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13) in the long run.
Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
As a Christian, is it important that I focus on the Spiritual side of life? Extremely! Look at what God wants for us and from us:
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John doesn’t say that it is a good idea; he says that it is a must! We must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. We must see the world, more and more as we grow in Him, from a spiritual perspective.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We must try to see ourselves from a spiritual point of view because we want to see Him, “as He is.” As we press forward in this life, we must prioritize our spiritual beings in order to see ourselves in the way He wants us to. If we have spiritual shortcomings, the “mirror” is to help us draw closer to Him, so He may cleanse us.