James 1:26

New American Standard Version

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.

Pastor’s Paraphrase

          Let me give you an example of the danger of not practicing what we are taught. If someone thinks of himself as spiritual, yet he ignores the Lord’s truth concerning the necessity of controlling our speech, he is fooling himself for he is not spiritual at all! That kind of spirituality is worth nothing!

 “How does this help me become more like Him?”

          All of the vehicles that we drive are equipped with mirrors.  We not only have a rear-view mirror installed inside the car on our windshield but we also have outside side mirrors so that we can see traffic behind us that we are not able to see in our rear-view mirror.  If we did not have these outside mirrors, we would have “blind spots” that could cause us great difficulty in driving and perhaps even jeopardize our safety as we moved down the highway on our journey.

          In our spiritual journeys, it is even more essential that we eliminate the “blind spots” in our Christian lives.  We all have them and that is why the Lord has given us the “mirror” of Scripture so that we might have an accurate reflection of what needs to be changed in our lives.  James is citing in this verse and the ones that will follow one of the most common “blind spots” for believers in his day as well as ours – our tongues.  He is about to give us strong teaching and powerful analogies to help us understand the importance of seeing and changing this problem in our lives.

          This is but one of many “blind spots” that we can have in our walk with Christ.  James is challenging us not to think of ourselves as being spiritual if we willfully choose to ignore these things that are not what they should be in our lives.  The only way we will know what these things are is to do what he instructed us in the previous verses – look carefully and consistently into the Word of God for truth to live by and heed what we see.

          Do you remember when you were a child and you would get the cardboard roll that the paper towels had been on when they were all used up and pretend it was a telescope.  As you looked through that cardboard cylinder, you could only see a very narrow view of what was in front of you.  I’m afraid that we sometimes look at our Christian lives like that – we take a very narrow view of what we conclude it means to be a spiritual Christian and we ignore the broad range of truths and principles that Scripture has for us.  We must look clearly and make ourselves accountable to it all!  We must refuse to be content with “looking through the keyhole” at what it means to live as God’s child and open the door to the full spectrum of His plan for our lives.

          When we do this, it will shine light on the “blind spots” of our speech and many, many other areas.  We will see more clearly and walk more correctly.  We will depend less on traditions and more on the revealed truth of Scripture as it becomes “a light for our path”.

“How should I pray for Him to change my life?”

Ask the Lord to reveal to you any “blind spots” that you might have – in your speech or any other area.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen and enlighten you to live in the way that the Lord desires.  Tell the Lord today that you are willing to see anything in your life that He wants you to see.

 END