Don't Receive to Deceive

Don't Receive to Deceive

I incorporated a few mirrors into our service at the Chapel. I used hanging mirrors, standup mirrors and hand held mirrors to illustrate the truth that James brought out about one of the beauties and blessings of the Word of God.

He warns the brethren of the dangers of receiving and deceiving themselves and encourages each of them to receive and believe what God reveals in the mirror.

He parallels disobedience (being a forgetful hearer), to what God's Word reveals to us (about ourselves), with looking into the mirror and walking away not effected by what they heard or received.

Think about your mirrors in your home. If you'll be honest, when you look in your mirrors, they reveal several different things about:

How you see yourself.
How you think others see you.
How you want others to see you.
How others really do see you.

For example: you see yourself one way in a mirror but your spouse will often see you differently than you see yourself. They see you, the real you for which they love and value... but you see yourself differently. Then you speculate they see you the way you see yourself. Then you want them to see you differently than the way you think they see you. For what one sees of themselves in a mirror has a way of effecting their lives in a positive or negative way. But it's not the mirror itself, as much as, how one sees their reflection in their mirror that either condemns, cripples or gives confidence for that day or event.

We so often deceive ourselves when we look in a mirror... and James is wanting to remind us that God's Word sees past the outer shell and reveals exactly who we are to have a long term effect