The word is like a mirror is it not? I have been looking into the word, I have been reading it, I have been studying it. But I haven't really been seeing my reflection in it. Maybe I am not reading it in the right way?
So when I look at verses like James 1:27 "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". I wonder how much of me this reflects. How much do I actually look after those widows and orphans? I'm so wrapped up in my own life that I forget to see those around me! This world is so incredibly full of needy people.
Then there is the verse that states that we are to remain in him. John 15:5 "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing". And I wonder, how much am I actually remaining in him? He says that "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you" (John 15:7). I don't see that happening in my life. I have been asking, but I have not yet been receiving. Is that a good indication of the fact that I am not yet remaining in him?
And then what about 1 John 3:6 "no one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." And I realize that there is still a lot of sin in my life. I do continue to sin. I am not living the perfect life that I wish I was living! So does that mean that I have not even seen him?
So I'm looking at these verses, and there are so many more, and I'm realizing that I am really looking into a mirror. And I'm not really liking what I am seeing. I am seeing an imperfect human being with so incredibly many faults. I do not match up to what I want to see when I look at the word. I do not want to be like the man in James 1:23,24 "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". Is that not the easy route? To realize we can never make it, and so give up and just continue on the way that we are living? Is there somehow another option?
Then I realized that it doesn't stop there, and that is what can give me hope! James 1:25 states "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". That is the man that I want to be! I want to continue to look intently into that perfect law, and then live in it!
And I believe that the perfect law that gives freedom is not the traditional law that we look at. When Jesus died on the cross he made a new covenant with us. The rules to this new covenant are found in 1 John 3:23 "And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us". Its actually pretty simple, but so incredibly complicated. But we just got to believe in the name of his Son. And when we do that, all of our sins are washed away!
Hebrews 10:14 states that "by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy". So truly when I look into the mirror of the word, I need to look at this mirror with the sacrifice of Jesus in my mind. He has washed away all of my sins so before him I am completely perfect! So by the amazing grace of God, that mirror now only reflects His perfection.
This is the only perfect law that could bring freedom! There is no way I could ever live up to the traditional law. Romans 3:23 states "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". I cannot, ever, by my own works make myself perfect. I can look into the mirror of the law all that I want, and try and try to "do" all these things written in it, but in the end I will only be condemning myself. It is not my righteousness that allows me to look intently into the perfect law and continue to live it in. It is the righteousness of Christ!
Galatians 3:2 states "Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heart? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" And that is what I so easily do. I look into the traditional law and I try to be perfect, but when I step into faith, realizing that I am not perfect, nor can I ever make myself to be, then Jesus makes me perfect. Then I can look intently into the perfect law, I can live in it, I can keep it ever before my mind so I do not forget it, and I can know that I stand perfect before Christ. I can look into that mirror, and instead of seeing my own mess, I can see Christ's perfection. And then, through that faith (its the faith, not the works that count), I can be blessed in whatever I do.
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