Sometimes we use God’s law in a superficial way. We act as mere “hearers of the Word” who hardly pause to consider before hurrying away. We don’t stop to think about how this or that text might apply to us. We give ourselves an obligatory check in the mirror, but don’t act on what we’ve seen.

Getting ready every morning includes a stop at the bathroom mirror. 

We stand in front of the mirror and groom ourselves, check things over and make the necessary adjustments. Once we’re ready, we head out the door.

This daily routine makes the comparison in James 1 so apt. There, James compares the law of God to a mirror—something we should look at on a regular basis. Because, just like a mirror, the law of God is very revealing. If we’re honest about what we see there, the law of God reveals to us our failures and exposes our blemishes. 

In his letter James is rebuking antinomians—Christians who say it doesn’t matter whether they heed God’s commands or not. They like the idea of a religion that lets them get on living how they want. 

But James says that they’re fools and their faith is worthless. His point is it’s not enough to have the Bible on our shelves, or installed as an app on our phone. Neither is it enough for us to simply sit under sound preaching every Sunday. Faith that doesn’t change us isn’t faith that saves—God demands we hear and do the word! It is God’s will that we put his word into practice. 

“This is what you’re like,” says James in 1:23-24 to those who talk up their religion but who live like unbelievers:

If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 

James presents a situation we should see as absurd—unthinkable! Imagine looking in the mirror at 7:45 on Monday morning and then forgetting what you look like by 8 o’clock! A mirror shows a person a reliable picture of himself. When you look with open eyes, you can hardly forget.

Looking Intently

Mirrors in the time of James were different from mirrors today. A mirror wasn’t made of glass, but of a metal like bronze, silver, or even gold: beaten flat and then polished to a high shine. The image wouldn’t be perfect, so you had to look from various angles, and with extra care and attention.

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