Stop Gawking. Do Something About It!

Stop Gawking. Do Something About It!

 “Yuck! I hate what I see. It looks gross. What a mess! I am so embarrassed.”

“Well, do something about it then. Don’t just stand there and gawk in the mirror and whine and complain.”

But the looker puts the mirror down and grabs his lunch and heads out the door. Another day.

Have you ever done that? I have. I open my Bible and dutifully read a chapter. Some of the verses speak to my heart but I try not to let that one verse bother me. After all, that same verse is there for any one else who reads that verse today. So really, what makes me think God is singling me out and speaking to my heart? So I just brush it aside and get on with my day.

But the Word of God is alive. It is God’s primary way of getting a message through to me today. He’s not writing messages in the sky nor scribbling cryptic messages on my bedroom wall to wake me up. His voice is not booming into my ear buds – unless of course, I have downloaded an audio version of my Bible on to my little ‘machine’. Everything God wants to say to me and everything He wants me to know is contained between Genesis Chapter 1 and Revelation 22.

Now back to the mirror. Here’s the Bible connection:

Prove yourselves doers of the word,

and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,

he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

for once he has looked at himself and gone away,

he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty,

and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer,

this man will be blessed in what he does.

(James 1:22-25)

Don’t fall into the trap of merely reading your Bible. Don’t deceive yourself thinking that it’s all good and everything is okay. It’s great you are reading but there’s a danger of just going through the mechanics of reading and thinking all is well. “Well, at least I am still reading my Bible.”

You can feel good about studying your Bible for the mid-week Bible study – checking a commentary or two and looking up a few Greek words. That’s all great – but that is NOT enough. That’s like looking in the mirror and then walking out the door – without dealing with the obvious!

When I read the Bible my first priority should be to hear the Lord speak to me personally. Getting help for a Bible study or to find a Gospel message or something for my Young People’s class should always be secondary. The first need is my own heart and my own life.

Make it your daily practice to breathe out a short little prayer to the Lord just as you are about to read your Bible. It could go something like this:

“Lord, it’s me again today. I am about to read Your Word. I would really like to hear Your Voice today as I read these verses. I feel my weakness and I know I have failed quite often but Lord, I would like to please You more. So if there is something today You want me to change in my life, please speak to my heart and give me the grace and strength to make the changes to be more like Your beautiful Son. I want to be a doer of Your Word not just a reader/hearer.”

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay

peter@heaven4sure.com