23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face[a] in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:23-25 CSB)
I don’t know about you, but I truly do want God to bless me in what I do. And today’s scripture is a clear picture of how we can achieve this.
But first I want to point out a key aspect to this passage. Note the key turn of a phrase in the middle where it denotes “what kind of person he “was”. You see, from one day to the next we can forget who we were. We may hear and act upon the law put forward in scripture one day and forget it completely the next, doing what we selfishly want.
We forget who we were.
But if we look intently into the Word and the perfect law presented there we find freedom. If we then persevere in it, striving to keep its statutes we become good hearers and doers and will be blessed.
God is asking us here to internalize the Word so that it is a living thing within us. It is the guardrails and signpost of our life and provides us the ability to remember who we are. Not walking away and quickly forgetting, but carrying Christ image with us every day and in every way so we are blessed in what we do.
