Go - Do - Be Blessed
Scripture Reading: James 1:22-27
A while back, I read some advice that was given to a person who was struggling to recall what a deceased loved one looked like. Their problem was, when they tried to picture a particular person in their mind, they were having a hard time visualizing them. It is strange, but I think that is more common than we realize, and not just related to someone deceased. It happens even when we try to visualize what we look like.
How many times have you heard someone look at a picture of themselves and say something like, “I look like that?” Maybe you’ve thought it about yourself. Or stop and try to imagine what you look like and get a mental visual picture of yourself. Walk by a full-length mirror in a store or catch a sidewise reflection of yourself in a window and you are likely to be surprised at what you see. It isn’t what you imagined.
This is the kind of thing James has in mind when he says that a person who merely hears the word and doesn’t do the word is like “a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”
The person I mentioned that was seeking advice about visualizing a loved one was given what I thought was some brilliant insight. They were told that the way they could solve this problem was to think of that person in a specific context. So, rather than simply trying to conjure up a mental image of them, bring up a specific remembrance, maybe some experience they had together, or something they commonly did, and visualize them in that context. Don’t try to see them generally, but see them with specificity. Brilliant.
There is a sense in which this also fits with the point James is making. We are told what we are like through the Word. We see our image reflected in the mirror of the word. But if we go away and do nothing with that we will forget. The antidote to forgetfulness is action. “Endeavor to persevere,” and be a “doer who acts,” and you won’t forget.
Even better, “You will be blessed in your doing.”
Go, do, and be blessed.
