SPIRITUAL DIRT & SELF-DECEPTION
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. —James 1:22-25
He looked in the mirror and there was dirt all over his face. At that moment something made a loud crash outside and he looked to see what it was. He quickly put his coat on and went outside to find it was just a large tree branch that fell in the backyard. Then he jumped in his care to run some errands and was gone for a couple hours. When he came back he happened to walk past a mirror and to his horror he had forgotten the dirt all over his face.
God’s Word is like a mirror. It shows us things in our lives that we need to correct. But, we can be like the man who walked away with dirt on his face and walk away from the Word of God without making the adjustments God is asking of us— having spiritual dirt all over our faces. If we only listen to God’s Word and do not do what it says we are deceiving ourselves. Self-deception is when a person hears God’s Word and refuses to obey. It is one thing for another individual to deceive us, but it is quite another when we are deceiving ourselves! On the other hand, when we are obedient to God’s Word there will be great freedom and blessing that follows.
The question that I have to ask myself, the question I have to ask the Lord Jesus is “Lord is there an area or areas of my life where I am not obeying You and if there is, would please reveal that to me? I don’t want to have spiritual dirt on my face!
Dear Father, I truly want to experience blessings from You. May I truly seek to apply Your Word to my life and experience not only the blessings You give, but also the freedom You give. May I not foolishly make the choice of disobeying, being self-deceived, having spiritual forgetfulness, lacking freedom and missing out on Your blessing. May I be faithful in following Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. May it be so!