Most mornings when I roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom, the face in the mirror looks more like a character from a scary movie than my own. Shortly after gazing upon such a frightening profile I proceed to shower, dress, and make myself presentable for the day.  But what if one morning I wake up, see how bad the face in the mirror looks, forget about, and leave to face the world with mascara smudges, crazy hair, and all?  James says that failing to be obedient to the truth is just like forgetting what I see in the mirror.  “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” (James 1:22-24 ESV)

Last week, while teaching a group of college girls what it means to be godly women, I was reminded that I can’t teach truth I’m not living.  If I try, then I’m hearing truth from the word (out of my own lips) and deceiving myself (not to mention those I’m teaching).  I want girls to be able to look at my life and see that though it’s far from perfect, I’m daily striving to put into practice the truths I communicate. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25 ESV)