For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. (James 1:23-24)

Ever see somebody that looks like they got dressed in the dark? Mismatched shoes, hair askew, coat doesn’t go with the pants. Most of us have been that person once or twice, usually after experiencing a power outage. You wake up to a dark house and have to get ready with no lights or electricity. You squint at the dark mirror and hope for the best. We usually don’t realize how we look to everyone else because we didn’t spend enough time at the mirror to reveal the truth. So Joe marches confidently into the office with his shirt on inside out. Only after seeing himself in the light can he understand where he messed up. Those pants are blue, not black. And that was toothpaste, not aftershave, he smeared on his face.

Our spiritual lives can also look like we got dressed in the dark. We sit through church services, nod at the verses sent to our phones, and even read our Bibles occasionally. But then we close them, go back to our regular lives, and nothing changes. We’ve squinted into the perfect law of God and walked away, forgetting what we looked like. But others know. Neighbors see someone in a Cedar point tee-shirt screaming obscenities at a live-in lover and wonder, “Really? That’s how Christians look?” God’s word functions like a mirror so we can see how we look compared to God’s desire for us. Do I see my life and heart reflected there? Do the Sunday sermons match my Monday choices? If not, check the mirror.

Final Thought:  Does your spiritual life look like you got dressed in the dark? Let God’s word be your mirror.

Prayer: Father, does my life look like I’m dressing in the dark? Do my actions line up with what I say I believe? May your word be my mirror. Help me change what doesn’t match. I won’t walk away and forget what I see there.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.