“But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. — James 1:22-25
God has been challenging me lately from this passage in James. As I read His Word, do I really believe what it says? Do I live like I believe His words are true?
I love to read passages of Scripture from different versions of the Bible. This often gives me a fresh outlook on a familiar passage. Recently, I looked at Ephesians 1 from The Message version. As I did, I sensed the Lord encouraging me, “Personalize it, read it out loud to yourself, and then declare it over those you are praying for.” Here’s a sample of what this sounded like:
God is the Father of [my] Master, Jesus Christ, and He takes [me] to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had [me] in mind, had settled on [me] as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt [me] into His family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure He took in planning this!) He wanted [me] to enter into the celebration of His lavish gift-giving by the hand of His beloved Son. — Ephesians 1:3-6 MSG (personalized)
After going through this exercise, I sensed the Lord steering me back to the passage in James and asking me, “Can you look in the mirror and read these verses from Ephesians to yourself? Can you receive what I’m saying about you?” I realize that part of obedience is receiving in my own heart the identity bestowed upon me by my heavenly Father, and then living like a child who knows she is the focus of her Father's love.
How often I forget who I am – and I bet I’m not alone.
Will you take the mirror challenge with me?
Karen Sergey