Now Programming Mirror Image Cognition

Husbands don't always make good mirrors :)  Is that true....or an understatement (notice I didn't say "or false"...ha!)....anyone?  Last night Brad and I were going to work at the church...so I threw on an old painting t-shirt, grubby capri jeans and my tennis shoes...I shouldn't have said anything, but I am in the habit of treating Brad like my mirror sometimes (which doesn't often work out well for either of us...I should program him with certain pleasant responses :)  Anyway, I said, "does this look dorky?"....he glanced at me with a bite of his dinner in his mouth and spit it out on his plate for laughing so hard....TO SPITE HIM, I wore it anyway :P

Other than disagreeing on clothing sometimes, Brad is a really good mirror for me.  I often need him to lovingly show me where I should change something....I am thankful that he is patient with me.

Just like God gives us people in our lives to hold us accountable and honestly show us the truth about ourselves when we might not see it clearly, He also gives us His Word....and more specifically, His commandments.  His law is like a mirror showing us our wrongdoings...allowing us to check ourselves against a set, righteous standard.

James 1:23-25 says: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do.

We should always be thankful for God's Word and the laws which expose the truth to us and allow us to become more like Christ.  The truth is we are not robots...we are not programmed, so we are constantly learning and making decisions based on knowledge we gain...our experiences should lead us into wisdom.  How does this verse help us to know how to use God's Word like we would use the knowledge a mirror gives us of our own refection?

1. "whoever looks intently"...We are supposed to look intently into the Word of God....that means deeply enough to really learn something, not just a passing glance.

2. "and continues in it"...We are supposed to continue in it...making it a regular habit.  

3. "not forgetting what they have heard"...We are to focus so intensely on what we are reading and learning that we commit it to memory and/or we allow it to fill our thoughts and prayers so God can teach us something new from it.

4. "but doing it"...We are to respond to what God has shown us....that can take so many different forms, but we should always be willing to respond in faithfulness to whatever God reveals to us.