Live it out!

"But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22-25)

This is where the rubber meets the road. It does not matter how much I know, how much time I spend in the Word of God, or how much time I spend speaking about it. If my life does not live out what I define myself to be, a Christian, I am like a man who gazes at himself in the mirror and then when I go out I quickly forget what sort of person I am. I think it is safe to say that the mirror that James talks about in this vivid illustration is the Word of God. It is through that we know who we are in Christ as the Holy Spirit illuminates His Word to us. We are convicted of sin by it as it shows us how far short we fall of God's holiness. It humbles us in seeing that in spite of our total depravity and inability, God died on the cross for us to save us. It is important to know God's Word, but it is more important to obey it. The effectiveness of our Bible study is not in how much we study it, but in what happens when we walk away from that mirror in our behavior and attitude.
A few things the Lord has been teaching me the past few weeks which are profound. There are two questions I have constantly been confronted with. Do I live in light of the gospel? Do I live in light of Heaven? I am convinced that these two questions are probably the most important questions that I will ever hold to in my life. A great many times we like to just pass through life as if there were no purpose. The reality, however, is ever more striking in the sense that contrary to this arrogance, we do have one. This purpose is not just for Sundays or during certain times, it is for every moment of our lives. It is a purpose that should consume us, that we should always be meditating on and living out. That purpose is to glorify God.
I have been studying about angels lately. The thing that amazes me is that of the elect angels, their primary purpose which is worship. The elect angels never sin, they never fail in their purpose because God has ordained it so. I marvel at what it looks like to be in a constant state of worshiping God and glorifying Him. I am thankful for God creating them and look forward to Heaven where I shall be sinless in the presence of God at all times. I am more thankful because what I have is far more valuable than them, that is, the redemption through Christ Jesus (1 Peter 1:12).