This is a series on James’ advice for surviving life as a Christian, getting on with one another and avoiding being eaten by wild beasts in the jungle of life. Look out for more posts!

There is a mirror that can show you who you really are. Looking deeper beyond the skin, it tears into your depths to reveal thoughts and systems you never even knew existed within you. The mirror can never lie, telling you plainly, “You are not the fairest of them all”.

This mirror is the word of God. There is a reason why people find going to church services or hearing someone talk about the gospel unsettling. No matter how ridiculous it sounds to the ears, a heart dissection is taking place.

Whether or not you are a Christian, we all get this feeling when the word is planted in us. Depending on your attitude towards God’s word, the feeling can either be gut-wrenching, almost making you lose your temper, or like a soothing fire in your soul.

The word of God shows us more about ourselves than anything or anyone else ever could. How you feel when you see what’s in the mirror is not important. What matters is what you do when you realise how broken you really are.

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James tells us not to come to church service this Sunday and return with the same ‘ugly face’ the following Sunday, and the same face the one after that. According to him, to successfully survive this life, we must keeping looking good.

You do this by not merely going for service just to feel good about yourself and receive a decent dose of motivation for the week ahead. You keep looking good by taking what you hear seriously and practically applying it to your life, allowing the word of God to transform you day-by-day. In other words, allow yourself to become beautiful.

The mirror doesn’t tell you how horrible you look just to shame you. Its honesty is borne out of love, it wants you to be better. There’s absolutely no judgment here.

The gospel is a collaboration of time and progress. This means that you don’t become totally perfect when you choose to follow Jesus. Rather, when you put your faith in Jesus, you begin a long walk on a narrow road through the jungle of life to your destination – perfection in him.

Every journey takes time – so you must be patient with yourself – and you make progress as you get closer and closer to your destination. The tragedy is for time to pass and for you to remain on the same spot.

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.
James 1:23-24

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