The same is true of the letter of James. In this first chapter, I counted at least 13 instructions on how to act. More, if you decide to treat, for example, the admonitions in verse 1:19 to "be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger" as three admonitions instead of one. After many of these instructions, James provides either a reason why we should do them, or further teaching about the instruction.
Thirteen instructions for life. That's a lot to talk about. I want to talk about verses 22-25, but feel free to add any comments you have on any part of this first chapter. Here's what James writes in these verses:
But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25 NET)
For those of you old enough, you may remember the TV show "Happy Days" from the 70s. While I never quite understood why the show was so popular, I do remember the opening credits. Sappy song, spinning vinyl record, montage of 50s looking scenes, hoop skirts, and "the Fonz" looking into the mirror ready to comb his greased-back hair, but changing his mind at the last minute because he looked perfect. There's an apocryphal story that Henry Winkler landed the role as Fonzie when, during the audition, he ad-libbed that move instead of simply combing his hair. When Fonzie walked away from the mirror, you can bet that he remembered everything he saw in it.
And how about you? We live in an age of abundant and accurate mirrors, and where emphasis is placed on how we look. Would you forget? Maybe not. What if you looked into the mirror and noticed a smudge on your face? Would you walk away and forget about the smudge, or would you clean your face, check again, and then walk away? James is writing about that case, where you see yourself correctly in God's Word, but upon seeing yourself, that's it. No action taken. Instead you walk away with the smudge, some spinach between your teeth, hair unkempt, and sleepers in your eyes, to greet the world. "Hey, have you heard about my friend, Jesus?"
Of course, James isn't talking about appearance. It's his thought that the law or word of God provides clarity in our understanding of who we are in relationship to God. In that revelation there is both liberty, and anticipated response. And the guidelines for that response are contained in the Word. I would say in both God's written word, the Bible, and in Jesus, Who is the eternal Word of God. If Jesus has made us holy in God's sight, we can walk away from the mirror like the Fonz. But if we do, if we really understand what that means, if we remember all those smudges that Jesus wiped away, then our actions will reflect that understanding. And as we take those actions, under the guidelines given to us, we will continue to remember with gratitude what God has done for us. And that... is worship. I can hear the praise from our lips now -- "aaaaayyyy."
Image from Wikipedia, used under Fair Use guidelines.
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