James: More GraceSample

God's word can save us! Failing to listen to his word and failing to accept it is very dangerous.

But there is another danger James is concerned about too. This danger is sneaky and easily missed. It is a very effective scam.

• How does James describe this deception (vv. 22–24)?

Dangerous false teachers have always found their way into churches. But actually all believers have a false teacher resident in their own heads. We deceive ourselves; we tell ourselves lies. One of our most effective deceptions can happen after we listen to God’s word. We nod in agreement as we hear what God says and this humble nodding makes us feel that we are making great progress spiritually. We can easily overlook the fact that a week later absolutely nothing in our life has changed. We resolve to obey God’s word but these good intentions never turn into action.

James uses the brilliant illustration of looking in a mirror to help his readers see this danger. Mirrors show us what we look like. They are also agents of change, for they show us what we need to do. You might look in a mirror and see that you have dirt on your face. You should go away and wash! But if you forget what you look like and stay dirty, looking in the mirror does you no good at all. It is just like that if we hear God’s call to change, accept that we need to change, but then fail to take action.

• How should we respond to God’s word and what can God’s word bring us (v. 25)?

Some kinds of listening are more helpful than others. If you only have a brief cursory glance in a mirror once a week, you are not likely to take good care of your appearance. We need to look much more carefully and regularly! How much more should we gaze into the mirror of God’s word, his ‘perfect law’, both intently and continually.

How we hear God’s word makes a big difference to our obedience to it, and it is obedience that matters. In Jesus’ famous parable of the sower (Luke 8:4– 15), every person hears God’s word, but it is only the one who keeps obeying it who is fruitful.

God’s commands are not a cage designed to lock us away from good things. Living life in obedience to our maker’s instructions is actually the only way to true freedom and blessing (v. 25). God want to do us good!

Pray

Pray you would look intently and continually into God's word and then take action to obey it.