“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
Memory is a powerful thing. Imagine what life would be like if as soon as you stepped away from looking in the mirror you completely forgot what you looked like. How would that impact your sense of identity? What images would you use to think about yourself? Whether you like looking in the mirror or not, you still know what you look like and this gives you a sense of who you are. You know you look, think and act differently than others because you are a unique you.
When we read the Bible and then promptly act in ways that are completely the opposite of what it says, we lose our sense of ourselves. We lose the identity that grounds us in God, which is our most free self. You completely forget who you are when you do not apply the word of God to your life. If you want to be truly free, you have to stare long and hard in that Bible-mirror and take in all that you see. Only then can you make changes, just like if you notice your bedhead you can fix your hair properly.
God’s promises and his laws reveal things about who we are and the ways sin is harming us. If you want to know who you are and who you can become, read the Bible. Engage with God as you relate to him in his living and active words. Imagine if your mirror were also a hair stylist. You could look in there in the morning, recognize some hairs that need to be put back in place, and then ask the mirror to fix it for you. All you would need to do is be willing to look carefully, ask for help and then hold still. The Holy Spirit operates in the words of the Bible to transform us when we invite that process. So take a good, long, hard look today and ask God to show you the places where you are not free. Let him untangle your hair one strand at a time.