Like A Man Who Walks Away And Forgets

It seems smart to dedicate the first blog to discussing why I am writing one. I have a lot of insights on Scripture. Some of these thoughts are good and some are so bad that I pray I have never written any of them down. But this blog is not about my thoughts. The goal of this blog is to examine Scripture and proclaim the wonderful truths that are in them so that I and my brothers and sisters in Christ (mainly the students in my NMCC CRAVE class) may be doers of the Word and remember to whom we belong.

James 1:22-25 states:

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 a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

How many times have I read something in Scripture that God specifically commands and then walk away with devestating consequences? How many times have I heard the words of Jesus saying even to lust after a woman is to commit adultery and then look at a woman with lust or worse yet internent pornography? The effect of such disobedience is I forget I'm a child of God and fall more and more into rebellion until I no longer know what it means to be a Christian. I forget so deeply and badly that I cannot even state concisely what the gospel is. And worse yet I rob myself of the joy that is in abiding with the Father and Son by staying in their commandments.

I'm starting to read a book entitled Worldliness: Resisting The Temptation Of A Fallen World. I've only read the forward written by John Piper and already I'm convicted I've robbed myself of immense joy in abiding in the commandments of Christ when I disobey Scripture. Piper writes, "May the Lord of all beauty purify our minds so that these are our greatest delights. In the end, the sum of all beauty is Christ, and the sin of all worldliness is to diminish our capacity to see him and be satisfied in him and show him compellingly to a perishing world" (pg. 13). Piper shows how abiding in Christ is to abide in what is True and Beautiful, but he also ups the ante. Studying God's word and doing it not only creates immense joy within me as I grow closer to Christ, but it also shows Him to a perishing world. The other week the network news stations reported the brutal death of the 8-year-old nephew of Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson. The boy was abducted, thrown in a van, and shot through the back of the head. That's a clear reminder that I need to remember my image in the mirror of the law so I may be satisfied in the eternal treasure that is God, but also so I may show the value and worth of Christ to a world that shoots children in the back of the head.

For anyone who read this, explore the Scriptures and texts with me. Pray that God shows us all that is in Christ by the work of the Spirit that we may be doers of the word, remembering our reflection in the perfect mirror of the Word, to be satisfied in Christ alone and thus show why Christ is worthy of us denying ourselves for His glory.