In the middle of giving Bill a haircut he said, “I’m
listening to the snip of the scissors and picturing in my mind how each cut
looks, but I just realized I’m picturing black hair!” We both had a good laugh
because Bill hasn’t had black hair in years. Now I’m wondering what exactly he
sees when he looks in the mirror every morning. James shares a similar
observation, “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” (James 1:23-24 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Our pastor has been presenting the aspects of stewardship for several weeks. The sermons have examined the stewardship of your body, time, mind, and of your words. This all repeatedly gets placed into the context of giving back in what you do, for God owns everything.
-----That last concept has seemed a bit trite to me. Sure, it’s ultimately true. And undeniably true. But it is like thinking about breathing, or like contemplating the electrons and protons of a ham sandwich. Do we really move about ineffectively because we do not always consciously perceive God’s ownership like, “I Breathe in. Now I breathe out. Now I breathe in, and I exhale, and inhale, and exhale, and I inhale, and inhale a little bit more. Now I sigh.” Nor do we think about electrons and protons when we stuff the ham and cheese into our pie holes.
-----But actually, what's enjoyable about the sandwich is only expressions of electrons and protons. And our breathing is not a totally unconscious process as is our heartbeat, or even more, as is the hormonal balances of our blood. When I was overcoming my manic-depression, I learned to shift my emotional states by controlling breathing cadence and rhythm. And that affected my heart rate, and of course, my hormonal balances.
-----There are two kinds of people who would read the Word and not think to do what it says: 1) the spiritually insincere with no intention of being alive in the Lord, yet holding some purpose for feigning it, and 2) the mentally insincere who are alive in the Lord, but never pay enough mind to discover from which end to escape his paper bag (don‘t worry, the Lord will let him out when it‘s over.)
-----The first is not who James addresses. But why would not paying mind make a believer mentally insincere? Think about the sandwich again. We are made of one physical bread slice interacting with the physical world, one spiritual bread slice interacting with the Holy Spirit, and a meatloaf mind connecting the two (sorry, we have to attain unto ham and cheese.) The physical bread slice has an input portal to the meatloaf (five senses,) and an output one from it (speech, writing, expressions, actions, etc.) The meatloaf processes from and for both. But the hearing and doing processes are neither the same nor actuated by the same part of the meatloaf. In fact, a whole lot of other processing from several other parts of it must happen before a heard idea is properly expressed through active doing and then reflected upon. The point of sincerity is that it is all of this processing from hearing unto expression on to reflection which changes the meatloaf. Mere contemplation of an idea only inclines us to possible change. And that doesn‘t stick.
-----Permanent change is remarkably complex and magnificently patterned by input and output through very different portals between meatloaf and your spiritual slice of bread. The Holy Spirit, being mixed in with your spiritual wheat, mixes God into your meatloaf with the contemplation involved in doing what you hear. Having written the Word you hear and come to your thought with your spirit, He moves your mind like it needs. But it is doing which stamps the effect upon the physical world as your Spirit-influenced expression. This stamp also logs into your spirit as effect for your next contemplation.
-----Stewardship is very big in very small places. God indeed owns all the clay and your spirit. But it is your doing what He says which turns meatloaf into ham and cheese.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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