But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (James 1:22-24)

You Must Be A Doer

In the natural world, there is a phenomenon that creates a mirror image. Embedded in nature, the law of reflection is what creates the image of the person. The law of reflection states that the angle at which light hits a surface (angle of incidence) is equal to the angle at which it bounces off (angle of reflection). Early man realized that, looking into a body of still water, he could see his reflection. Various ores were discovered that, when polished, create a mirror effect. Every civilization has produced a form of mirrors up until the modern mirrors of today. The purpose of a mirror was to reflect the image of the person.

James uses the metaphor of the mirror to show the reflection of the spirit of man upon the word of God. God’s word is the mirror. It is a highly polished and perfect mirror. Everything in the word of God is complete. The danger of a mirror is that it shows exactly everything that is reflected. Distorted mirrors reflect distorted images. A perfect mirror will reflect exactly what is seen. The word of God is the most pure, perfect, and polished representation of truth without exception. It will reflect exactly what type of person is peering into its contents.

When a person looks into a mirror and sees things that need to be corrected and goes away without making changes, they defeat the purpose of the mirror. It becomes more tragic when a man looks into the word of God and, after realizing the changes that need to be made, closes the book, refusing to change. The word of God is not at fault. It is the heart of the man who stubbornly sees the need for change and refuses to see what is clearly revealed. His refusal does not change the mirror of God. Someone can stand in front of a mirror and say they have not gained weight, but the mirror does not lie.

Faithfulness is not governed simply by hearing what God says. It demands that a person do what God says. Many teach that salvation by works is false, but how can one be saved without the ‘doing’? To hear the word, know what needs to be done, and refuse to change deceives themselves into believing the lie. Satan tells the soul to hear the word but not to worry about doing the word. There will be many hearers lost in perdition because they never made the changes. They falsely believed they did not have to do anything. Faithful people of God are doers of the word.

Whatever the word of God says must be reflected in the lives of the Christian. Grace does not impede the necessity of obedience. James did not say to think about doing the word but to be doers of the word. This is action. There is activity. Change must take place with emphasis on the must. There can be no salvation apart from the doing. Hear. Do.