… is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
This sounds like something the “mirror app” on your smart phone could help with, doesn’t it? That’s what I immediately thought of when I read the quote above. If you forget what you look like – just whip out your phone and open the “mirror app”.
Seriously though – there’s more to this than meets the eye (pun intended).
But before we get serious – just in case you don’t know what the “mirror app” is, let me fill you in. The cheap version is to just turn on the front facing camera on your phone and hold it in front of your face. If you can’t see close-up things very well – zoom in. If you need more, either go to the Google Play Store or the Apple’s iTunes and check them out.
So – the full sentence that has the quote above is –
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
That’s from James 1:23-24. It’s in a section the NIV titles Listening and Doing. It’s in between two other sets of verses that talk about things we need to watch out for. We’re going to look at the other passages first, then come back to this one.
Anger
Jas 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
When I read this, I thought of all the rage that’s so prevalent these days. I Googled “rage”. As usual, there was am image section. Six of the first 10 images were of a devil. How’s that for appropriately assigning the source? The surprising thing was that while I expected to find things like road rage, I also got a number of entries on the first page for a video game, a movie and a (musical) band. As a sad commentary on politics today – there was also one on Donald Trump.
It seems like we have a problem listening, waiting to speak, and being slow to get angry. In reality, I suspect much of it comes from an inability to listen. Too often, we assume we know what the other person’s going to say – and maybe even, because of the assumption, don’t care what they’re going to say – and jump right into responding. Then they react likewise. And we re-react. And they react likewise. Before very long – we’ve gone way past anger – and almost straight to rage.
I wonder, do we even know what “listen” means anymore? Here’s what it used to mean –
191 ἀκουστός, ἀκούω [akouo /ak·oo·o/] v. A root; TDNT 1:216; TDNTA 34; GK 200 and 201; 437 occurrences; AV translates as “hear” 418 times, “hearken” six times, “give audience” three times, “hearer” twice, and translated miscellaneously eight times. 1 to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf. 2 to hear. 2B to attend to, consider what is or has been said. 2C to understand, perceive the sense of what is said. 3 to hear something. 3A to perceive by the ear what is announced in one’s presence. 3B to get by hearing learn. 3C a thing comes to one’s ears, to find out, learn. 3E to give ear to a teaching or a teacher. 3F to comprehend, to understand. 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
And here’s what it means now –
Listen – verb (used without object)
1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to):
Children don’t always listen to their parents.
3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for):
to listen for sounds of their return.
4. Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound:
The new recording doesn’t listen as well as the old one.
verb (used with object)
5. Archaic. to give ear to; hear.
Verb phrases
6. listen in,
a. to listen to a radio or television broadcast:
Listen in tomorrow for the names of the lottery winners.
b. to overhear a conversation or communication, especially by telephone; eavesdrop:
Someone was listening in to his private calls. 2http://www.dictionary.com/browse/listen?s=t
It seems we don’t have a clue what “listen” means today, especially judging by the examples given.
Looking at the meaning from Biblical times, we see “give audience”. The idea there is that an audience is supposed to just watch and listen – and not interrupt and scream back at the speakers. Sadly, this doesn’t always happen today. In some environments, especially in politics, the goal isn’t to listen, or even allow others to listen – it’s to silence the speaker.
We also see words like perceive, comprehend, and understand, in the definition from Biblical times. These are totally gone today. Now it’s more like assume, then jump into anger before quickly shifting to rage. The only thing people listen to today, from the examples, is when someone in authority is coming (so we can start to behave or run away), music, other people’s conversations, lottery winners, and TV.
Verse 21 has the obvious, if not simple, answer –
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
The key word, in case you assumed you knew what it was going to say and missed it – is “humbly”.
If everyone could be more humble – maybe even humble at all – there’d be a lot less anger and rage. But here, this verse is specifically talking about Christians accepting God’s Word, telling us to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. I include myself in what I’m about to say – we all need to try harder to do this, not only with each other, but especially with God’s Word. If we succeeded with God’s Word, then doing it with others would fall into place – since we’re supposed to love even our enemies. Of course, these days, we don’t even treat the ones we love very well.
All of this points to one obvious conclusion – we aren’t doing a very good job of humbly accept(ing) the word planted in us. Of course, it’s also possible, and far worse, that God’s Word isn’t even in us.
The tongue
In case the previous section on anger and rage wasn’t enough, James closes this Listening and Doing section with the following –
Jas 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
The tongue – isn’t that what we just finished talking about. That’s generally how all this gets started – because of a failure to “listen”, too quickly speaking in anger, and escalating to rage. All because we weren’t humble enough to even take the time to try to get another person’s point of view – and we don’t have enough respect for them as a child of God, like us – we have to beat them down, with anything from words to guns.
The thing that hit me from the last passage was about how – if we can’t control even our tongues – then our religion is worthless. By religion, James was talking about worship – but here, we need to remember that the early Christians thought of literally everything they did as worship – everything they did was for God. We don’t have that feeling much these days. We think Sunday is good enough. But James at least tries to make it clear – that’s just not true. It’s 24-7 365 days a year.
The word I want to highlight though, is “worthless”.
Today, we define “worthless” as –
worthless – adjective
1. without worth; of no use, importance, or value; good-for-nothing:
a worthless person; a worthless contract.
We see the examples as a contract and a person.
Let’s look at what it meant when James wrote this –
3152 μάταιος [mataios /mat·ah·yos/] adj. From the base of 3155; TDNT 4:519; TDNTA 571; GK 3469; Six occurrences; AV translates as “vain” five times, and “vanities” once. 1 devoid of force, truth, success, result. 2 useless, of no purpose. 3Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This says there is no result, no success, and no force. In context, that means our “religion” – the way we live out what we believe about God – has none of these things. Our beliefs are useless and of no purpose – because we don’t live them out.
But – it’s actually worse. I skipped one word. It also says we are devoid of truth – that while we claim to believe certain things, our actions say we don’t. It says that while our mouths have told God. “I believe” – our hearts have told God, “I don’t believe”. We’ve lied to God.
forgiven and / or blessed
Finally, let’s take a look at that passage in the middle – the one that contains the opening quote.
Jas 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Yes – depending on the state of our hearts – which we even lie to ourselves about – we may still be forgiven for the things we’ve done. Even forgiven for some of the things related this passage that we didn’t do.
The question is – will we be blessed in what we do? Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians – the fact that we may be saved, but did we actually do anything for God’s Kingdom?
1Co 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
For instance – I ask myself, for all the time and effort I put into writing – the research, the arrangement into something that’s hopefully understandable, the actual writing (typing), and the time I pray I am really am following the guidance of the Holy Spirit – am I really doing it for God, or is it for me? Will I be one of those who will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames?
How much of my life do I truly live for God – and how much for me? I know it’s not 100% for Him. I hope it’s not 100% for me.
What about you? Do you ever ask yourself questions like that? Do you pull out your “mirror app” and really look at yourself?
Footnotes
- 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 2http://www.dictionary.com/browse/listen?s=t
- 3Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
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