“But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭CSB‬‬

For some reason, this verse makes me think of the people I have seen taking photo after photo of themselves in public places. Often they spend several minutes trying out various angles and expressions until they find just the look they are going for. Sometimes the background includes some tourist attraction or a beautiful scene, but sometimes not. To a bystander, these poses look pretty silly but the people posing don’t seem to care. It is clearly important to get this selfie just right, presumably to post online for others to see. There’s nothing wrong with posting selfies, but I wonder if the people posting them actually enjoyed their time at the tourist attraction or spent time just enjoying the beautiful scenery around them. Do they even remember the experience or just the photo of it? I guess that’s why this verse reminds me of this phenomenon. James says someone who hears God’s word but doesn’t actually do it is like a person who looks in a mirror but forgets what they saw when they walk away. I think the hearer-not-doer is like a person traveling to Paris, dressing up, waiting for the right light, and getting 1000 selfies with the Eiffel Tower in the background, and then poring over the results to select the best one to post on their social. But they never actually go up the tower or walk around it or visit it’s museum. They get their selfie and fly home. What was the point? Getting other people to admire them? James warns that just hearing God’s word is not enough. In fact it’s a waste of time. It does me no good to go to church and listen to the sermon if I don’t contemplate it and pray about how I can learn from it and apply it to my life. Am I just going to church to put on a show?

Dear God,

Please forgive me for the (many) times I have read your word and then just gone on with my life forgetting about what I read. Please remind me to listen to you when I read your word, to ask you how I can apply your wisdom to my situation, here and now. And then help me to apply it. I want your word to sink deep into my heart so loving your children becomes my new way of life, not just something I know I should probably do because I heard it somewhere.