James 1

James 1 grounds the rest of the book because people who hear the word should also act on it. We must not be simply hearers, but doers also. Not acting on what we read and hear is like looking in a mirror and forgetting what we look like (1.22-24) Daft, isn't it? God's word is a mirror in our lives, it shows us God's way for living and reveals the difference that knowing God should make to our lives. If we are properly and prayerfully studying God's word, our reaction should be the same as that after we have stood in front of the mirror.

Why do we look at ourselves in mirrors? Partly vanity, but also to check we look presentable and that we have not left toothpaste round our mouths (this is not a comment on your ability to clean your teeth). I think there are two applications from this: forgetting is stupid, pure and simple; revisiting the mirror because you can't remember whether you still had toothpaste round your mouth probably equates to goldfish memory, however we may see the toothpaste but choose to go to out regardless. We need to act on what we've seen, since that was why we looked in the first place. It is the same with faith. If you really want to take your faith seriously you need to be regularly getting stuck into the bible. But simply reading is not enough, we need to respond to what we read and hear explained to us - doing, not just hearing. For example, to read that we should not let any unclean talk be in our mouths (Eph 4.29) but to continue swearing and making rude jokes would be like leaving the house with toothpaste round our mouths even though we purposefully looked in the mirror to check our faces were clean.

The Christian life is about becoming more like Jesus. We urge you to take seriously what you read in the bible and what you hear at church and from other sources. Please do not be people who don't apply the bible's teaching to their lives; if you're not going to apply it, don't bother. If you don't want toothpaste on your face when you go to school, look in the mirror and wash it off. If you want to become more like Jesus, compare your life to how life is described in the bible and then make changes as the Holy Spirit convicts you.