The Mirror

Face In The Mirror...

...or Faith Without Works

Jan 15, 2010

let me preface this by saying i've never understood what tagging people in a note was about. people have tagged me, and i've read it and there was nothing about me in it. i suppose then, that tagging is just a way of notifying the people you want to read it that it's here to read. so, if you've been tagged, it's cuz i wanted you to read! (except for mrs. pack, to whom i also wanted to say "it's your turn in scrabble!)

this morning i woke up, and spent an hour praying and reading the bible before even crawling out of bed. i read the book of james. and i'm telling you this because james goes into quite a bit of discussion about works, what they are, what their purpose is...

works are an extension of our faith. they are the proof of our faith, the result of our faith, and the catalyst for deeper faith. one analogy that james made really struck me... part of what i'm about to say is taken directly from scripture, but i'm also expanding on it with my own little ad-lib comments.

if we say we have faith, but we don't do works, it's like we are looking into a mirror, seeing who we really are, and then walking away from that mirror and the mental image of who we are looks better than the truth... because we're not LIVING our faith through works, we think of ourselves as "prettier" than we really are. we have walked away from the mirror and don't retain the truth. but if we're doing works that give witness to our faith, that mirror is always in front of us.

what happens if we stand in front of a mirror 24/7? we forget it's there, and we quit focusing on what we look like. we just go on about what we're doing, and if what we're doing is acting out our faith and bringing glory to God (i.e. works), then when we glance up and see our reflection in that mirror, we're seeing Christ looking back at us, and it's a picture of beauty.

but if all we're doing is standing in front of the mirror preening, we're never going to see Christ looking back at us. all we're gonna see is skin-deep... superficial and hollow, and without substance.

faith, without works, is dead. useless. non-existence. if there are no works, there really is no faith.