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

Since my wife works a job that has explicit hours, and I don’t, I am usually at the house when she gets home. I know, it’s sort of a role reversal kind of thing. But it is what it is. Not so strangely I USUALLY try to ‘not’ look like a bum when she comes through the door. She believes she married a ‘Knight in Shining Armor,’ and I don’t want to deliberately tarnish the image. She recently came home and laughingly said, “WOW!!! Your hair is a MESS!”

This is NOT a message about my wife’s insensitivities… OR my HAIR! But rather what MY perception about myself happens to be. Having come in from outside where the wind had been blowing, I hadn’t looked in the mirror. When I did I found that she was right!

It takes a big person, with a servant’s heart, to discern the difference between what one ‘thinks’ and what one ‘knows.’ Mark Twain said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” I have just revealed one of my biggest weaknesses! And maybe one of yours??

“Wherever you go, there you are,” is credited as a Buddhist statement. I don’t know that Buddha didn’t rip it off from Jesus! But the concept is one I can verify as accurate. Sometimes I actually ‘believe’ that what I am ‘thinking’ or ‘doing’ is A.O.K. Even when it is NOT! USUALLY folk’s FIRST reaction to a statement like, “WOW!!! Your hair is a MESS!” becomes defensive…“No it doesn’t!” Even if the defense only happens internally! The fact is, most humans don’t believe they are wrong. And if you are a Christian under the Grace of God… that last statement is CAN become arrogance!

The Word of God is like a mirror. It never lies, distorts or sugar coats the Truth. Reading it actually takes bravery because, to even approach it requires a certain ‘uncertainty’ about oneself. To actually read AND apply its Truth requires an act of Superior-Sainthood! Far too often I read it and have to say, “ouch!” But here’s the lesson…Jesus says THAT is the proper attitude, AND the ONLY one that brings ‘blessed’ results. What do YOU think?