"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness, the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the vices of the world."
I love this passage. One part of it has always been a mystery to me though.
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was."
What?
Natural face. Glass. Goes away. Forgets what manner...
The scriptures, or God's words in any form, can act as a mirror (glass) to our souls. We see in them who we really are - the good and the bad. By showing us who we really are - fallen, broken, imperfect - we can then go do something about it. Unfortunately, we sometimes come to read or listen, say "sweet, got me my word of God for the day!" then go about doing absolutely nothing to improve. We spend time looking in the mirror, only to leave, forgetting about those things we ought to correct, being hearers, but not doers of the word.
The fact is, until we are in the position of the Son of God, the one who attains to the resurrection of the dead by coming to this world and acting in complete conformity with the words of the Father, we all have things we need to improve on.
Let's not hear then forget, thinking ourselves justified because we spent time hearing. Go and do. That is where we will find God.
