100 Days with Jesus -- Gaze Into the Magnifying Glass of Scripture and Look Intently Into God's Face

Day 40


Imagine you have some place important to go this morning like work or a special meeting. And you look in the mirror when you first get up and see that your hair is a mess, your teeth haven’t been brushed, you need a shower and definitely a little touch of makeup. But instead of going through your morning ritual, you throw on your clothes and walk out the door, totally ignoring what you have just seen in the mirror as if you don’t remember what you looked like. You know that this is not the way you want to present yourself to the world. My mom is one of those ladies that can’t imagine going to the store to grab a loaf of bread without having everything in place. Make up on, hair done, jewelry on, ready to face the world. That’s just who she was and who she still is. And it’s also one of the things that I admire about her. It wasn’t about trying to impress anyone. It was more about how she wanted to face the world, prepared, bringing her best and knowing she was ready for whatever came. Slothfulness was not an acceptable lifestyle.

James 1:22-25 says ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.

As unlikely as it is that we would go to an important event, unclean and disheveled, how much more unlikely should it be to read and study God’s word and then completely ignore it, as if you never knew what it said. But if we gaze into it intently, just like looking very close into the mirror and observing every little detail in our face, we will see the richness and wisdom in God’s word and as James says, be blessed. It’s my heart’s desire to gaze into the magnifying glass of scripture and look intently into God’s face.