James 1:23-24

NIV: Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

The Message: Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

I don't know about looking in a mirror and immediately forgetting what I look like, but I know that I have often look at figures (I work with numbers!), gone to insert a figure into a spreadsheet, accounts program or tax return and before I can do so, I have forgotten the number I am copying. Now whilst it might be a senior moment when I do this (highly unlikely, I know, in view of my very young years…!!!), it generally means that I have not been concentrating. Well, James is telling us exactly the same thing here. It is no good reading our bibles if we immediately forget what it is that we have read and if we fail to put it into practice.

In order to really obey God, to learn from His word, we need to read the bible with concentration, to listen out for the voice of the Holy Spirit teaching us, guiding us, bringing to our attention passages or verses we had never really noticed before, or giving us a different interpretation of familiar verses. It is a bit like going to school to learn to read and write. You sit there, listen to the teacher, look at the books, use the pencils and so on, but at the end of the day, you can read or write no better than you could at the start of the day. All the teaching has gone to waste as you really did not pay attention or listen properly. I suppose it is also like when I was at University and did a course on electromagnetism. I would sit there listening to the lecturer, take copious notes but I really didn't have a clue what he was saying or what I was writing down. And even buying the text book didn't help as I couldn't understand that either! I never did like electromagnetism!

What is the point of having a bible, having the written word of God right in front of us if we never open the book, or if when we do, we just skim read or listen to the radio at the same time, or keep thinking of other things instead? The bible is the word of the Living God, the Creator of the universe and everything in it. He has gone to the trouble of having all those authors write the various books and letters, making over 300 prophecies regarding Jesus Christ, many of them hundreds, if not thousands of years before Jesus was born (each prophesy has come true and the odds of that happening are astronomical - you stand more chance of winning the lottery than you do of having all those prophecies come true and yet each one of them was fulfilled by Jesus). There are also all those other prophecies about the last days, the end times we are currently living in. Not only that, but the bible is full of advice, wisdom, examples of men and women who obeyed God, and also examples of those who did not. It gives us a picture of God, showing us just how faithful, how loving, how merciful how just and holy He is, and it tells us about His Son, Jesus Christ, who died to save each one of us if only we choose to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. It is not just a book to pick up and read, but it is a book to obey, a book to learn from.

The usefulness of the time we spend in reading and studying the bible is reflected in the way we behave, the things we think and say and do. The word of God is active and living, it will change you from within if you let it, make you more like Jesus. But you have to have an open mind, a willingness to be changed, to allow God to work on you and in you.

Are you willing to let God work on you and in you? Are you willing for Him to change you, to make you more like Jesus? The choice is yours as God would never force you. So if you have never opened up a bible, take a look at one, either one you can hold in your hand and read, or there are plenty available online. You will read about murder, incest, rape, wars, famine and drought, love, forgiveness, mercy. Some of it (especially parts the book of Judges) reads like a page from a tabloid newspaper with rape, revenge and murder. But the overriding theme to me, is the message of God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

So the next time you pick up your bible, really read it, think about what it has to say, meditate on the passage you have read and put into practice what you have learned. Don't be like the man who looks in the mirror and then walks away, immediately forgetting what he looks like or who he is.