Listen

You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

James 1:22-27

Think

What do you see when you look into a mirror? Do you see someone created in the image of God? Someone worthy of God’s love? Someone who deserves dignity, grace, and mercy?

What does looking into a mirror have to do with helping others and living our faith? When I began to think about this passage more deeply, I wonder if it is because we have to really understand who we are if we are to live out a pure and faultless faith (defined in the last verse of this passage).

Could it be that I have to remember that I am loved in order to be able to love those who others disregard? Can I notice the presence of God in others when I can’t see it in myself? Am I really able to affirm others’ dignity and extend grace and mercy if I can’t accept the same from God?

Take the time to look into the mirror and see yourself as God sees you… then commit to seeing others the same way.

Dale Tadlock

Pray

Accepting God, help me to see myself as you see me... loved, accepted, and worthy of grace. As I live today, help me to remember the reflection I see of you in myself and extend that to the other people I see today, particularly those who are not so easy to love. Amen.

Go

To whom might you give the gift of time and presence today?

Go with the assurance of God’s presence, acceptance, and desire to be together with you and those around you.

Go in peace!