James 1:19-25 Doers

James 1:19-25
"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Have you ever had one of those really bad days. You roll out of bed and you are already late for work. No time for a shower, just get your clothes on and go. Climb in the car drive as fast as you can to work run into your office drop off your stuff and then quick into the bathroom to do what everyone does first thing in the morning - empty out last nights dinner. After finishing you look in the mirror while washing your hands and notice your hair is not combed, you have pizza sauce on the corner of your mouth from last nights dinner and a booger is hanging out your nose. You have two choices you can fix yourself or walk away. Almost everyone would fix themselves.

Well today's passage talks about those of us who look into the mirror of God's word, see sin and disorder in our lives, but we never do anything about it. We just walk away and pretend everything is ok. Sure everyone else can see the sin in our lives and our relationship with God is nonexistent, but we go on with our lives like we never saw what the word of God has to say about our lives. To make matters worse, we now begin to avoid the mirror of God's word because we know that nothing has changed in our lives or in the word since the last time we looked. We begin a downward spiral into the depths of sin, shame, wickedness and depression.

It doesn't have to be that way. Early in this passage we read this:

"Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word..."

Clean yourself up, get rid of the filth and wickedness in your life like you would remove the pizza sauce and the booger on your face. Humble yourself enough to see the disarray and sin in your life. Accept what God is trying to tell you in his word and then do what you should, abide by the words of God, become an effective at doing what the word of God says.

This passage also includes two promises for those who do what the word says:

"save your souls"
"blessed in what he does"

So, read the word, compare it to your life, fix what you need to, be saved and blessed.