Oh, I have to APPLY it?

21 So get rid of everything evil in your lives—every kind of wrong you do. Be humble and accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts. This teaching can save you. 22 Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. 23 Hearing God’s teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror 24 and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. 25 But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard. (James 1:21-25 ERV)

There are definitely times when I take a gander in the mirror early some mornings when my first inclination is just to turn away, believing there is absolutely no help! Hair askew, blemishes seeming to bud out of nowhere overnight, and eyes heavy with sleep - things don't look all that promising! But...rather than turn away, I do the best with what I have been given that day. It may not be perfect, but it the best with what I have to work with! In our spiritual lives, there are times when we look in the mirror, turning almost immediately away in a kind of disheartened manner, thinking things will not change in our hearts or minds. Things seem to just "stay the same", or worse yet, they seem to change, but in a negative fashion. We don't like what we see, but we don't know how to change it, either. The good news is that a humble heart and an open mind can actually be the framework by which God can "pile in" his word and create anew what we have no idea how to change!

The Word of God isn't there as a mirror that allows us to ignore or neglect whatever is reflected there - it requires us to deal with what we behold. If you have ever read a certain passage and then said something such as, "Oh my... That certainly hit the nail on the head", then you know exactly how the Word of God is a mirror that does more than "reflect" back to us an image of imperfection. It has a way of showing us not only where those flaws exist, but how to use what we have to see those imperfections made better and better over the course of time, but....we have to apply what we have been given. It is like having all manner of make-up available on the bathroom counter and then just thinking it is going to somehow affect your appearance by just looking at it! Well, duh...it isn't going to just apply itself! You have to do something with what you have at your disposal!

A lot of the time we really do not realize God has planted this good stuff we need in order to realize change in our hearts and minds - it is already planted - it just needs a little cultivating to make any difference! I don't know where you are today in your walk with Jesus, but here are some words of encouragement:

- You have what you need, even when you don't honestly see evidence of it right now. 

- You are the one to put into use what it is you have been given. God isn't slack in what he provides, but we are often "slackers" in what it is we do with what it he has provided. Take the first step and you may just be dazzled with the difference just a little step like that makes.

- You don't have to get it all right the first time you try. I remember putting on eye shadow the first time - I think it was green. Uhm...just so you know, green is not in my color pallet! It didn't look all the good and I put it on way to thick and way to "inexpertly". You have to try sometimes a whole lot of times until you get some of this right - but don't just give up when it doesn't go well the first time - eventually things will "click" and you will be amazed at the results. Just sayin!

A shiny new appliance

All scripture is given for our benefit - all truth given for our use.  Yet, something given is not of value until it is put into use, is it?  When you receive a gift of a new blender for the kitchen, or perhaps a new toaster, the small appliance looks pretty in the box.  You can even open the box and place the new appliance on the kitchen counter, but if this is as far as you ever get to using the new appliance, it really doesn't serve you any purpose.  You could even plug it into the outlet to be "hooked up" to electrical power, but if the appliance is never turned to the "on" position, all the electrical power could do is of no benefit.  Even if you put a couple pieces of bread into the toaster, or some berries into the blender, until you engage the "on" switch, the appliance still doesn't do all it could do.  Once the toast is popped up, nicely golden, or the berries are swirled into a smoothie, even those promising things contained within the appliance are of no value until they are "taken into" your body. What gives the life is the ingesting of the toast or smoothie.  Up until that point, the purpose of the appliance is just not fully recognized.  We sometimes treat the truth contained in God's Word much like the shiny new appliance on the counter.  We get to the point of being connected and even seeing the potential of good stuff in there, but fall short of "ingesting" it so it can bring benefit to our lives.  

Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”  (Mark 4:24-25 NLT)

All scripture is meant to be taken in context - in other words, you have to look at what else is being said "around" what you are reading so you get to know to whom the passage applies, what was happening at the time it was written, etc.  Then you get the gist of the entirety of the passage.  Jesus had many an encounter with the religious leaders of his day - men opposed to the "shiny new religion" Jesus spoke about so freely.  You see, they concentrated so much on all the rules to be kept that any "new religion" which merely proclaimed relationship as the means for salvation had to be some kind of "wrong religion".  In truth, what Jesus offered was no religion at all - it was the opposite of religion - deep, intimate, personal relationship with God without all the "doing" of rule-keeping.  The religious leaders saw the "shiny new religion" much as the one who merely receives the gift, but only gets as far as unpacking it from the box.  It didn't serve a purpose for them because it didn't "fit" their present needs.

As he taught among them, his teaching was constantly met with both silent and vocal resistance.  Why?  Their way of living was being "unraveled" by the simplicity of the message of faith Christ proclaimed.  His message of personal relationship with God through the Son was foreign to their way of living - so it was threatening their "well-established" religious pursuits.  It required a mindset change, coupled with a change of heart - something most of the religious leaders just weren't willing to do.  When the Word of God gets into you, it affects you - so if they could keep it on the "outside" of their lives, they had half a chance of remaining unaffected by it.  Some of us know the truth - it is right there in front of us like the shiny new appliance on the counter - but we refuse to ingest the nourishment the truth provides.  Why? It could be we are just content with the complexity of our present lives - because we at least have that all figure out.  It could be we don't like change and we resist anything which requires us to embrace something outside of our realm of comfort.  Regardless of the reason for our resistance - truth exists to be embraced.

Eventually, even the shiny new appliance on the counter just "blends in" with all the other stuff gathering there.  What was once "new" becomes "familiar" and we often take for granted it will continue to work as promised when we go to use it somewhere down the road.  I don't know about you, but what I have learned over the years is that something provided at one point in my life is often best "used" at that point in my life - because I needed it then!  It doesn't mean I won't need it again later, but I miss out on so much if I don't use what I am given.  When I use what I am given today, it carries me into my tomorrow and will help me go the distance.  The shiny new "religion" Jesus offered had all the potential of setting the religious leaders free from a bunch of meaningless rules and bringing them closer to God than they had ever experienced before.  Yet, they resisted - they put the gift where they could see it, but at every hint of its majestic possibilities, they resisted making it their way of living.  

I have a little food processor about the size of a two cup measuring cup. I bought it to chop up things like onions and the like for dishes I would prepare. I don't think I have used it more than a couple of times - not because it doesn't perform as it promised, but because I forget it is there.  I resort to the old way of doing things and start chopping away with the knife and cutting board.  Truth is only as good as when it is applied - we have to take it out, put it into use frequently, and allow it to make an impact on our lives. Nothing about truth serves its purpose until it is embraced.  Just sayin!

Paint anyone?

It is an act of seeing which allows us to perceive many times.  We could become alert to something happening through our other senses of hearing, touch, or smell, but seeing is what often "connects the dots" for us.  Some call this being a "visual learner" - we can read all about it, but once we see it done a couple of times, we've got it!  Without seeing, we just don't have the same perception, do we?  Yet, it is possible to "bypass" this element of perception - functioning pretty well, as a matter of fact - but...we miss out on the splendor of color, the mystery of the twinkle in someone's eye, and the awing wonder of following the trail of a jet high up in the sky.  We function, but we don't "get the full picture" when our seeing is not connected to our perceiving.

If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. (Proverbs 29:18 MSG)

Seeing what God is doing is sometimes one of the hardest things to really comprehend.  We often miss his subtle moves simply because we aren't tuned into him as well as we should be.  I used to watch this guy on TV when I was a kid - his name was Bob Ross.  His show was called The Joy of Painting. He could take a pile of oil or acrylic paints and turn them into landscapes in something like 20-30 minutes.  He'd use knives, detail brushes, but what amazed me most was his use of the traditional "house painting" size brushes! He'd just barely touch the large brush to the paint, then he'd stipple it onto the landscape, giving the sense of tree leaves, wildflowers, or some other detail within the work of art.  Some might think his "art" was a little too "easy" because he learned these short-cuts to creating a really unique work of art, but in actuality, he learned them because his time to paint was limited at first - he had to take advantage of the time he had and get the work finished so he could sell it.

I never actually learned to paint like Mr. Ross, though.  I watched him over and over again, fascinated by how his mind could take a blank canvas and create a finished piece of artwork which resembled the mountains of Alaska, the fields filled with wildflowers, or densely wooded forested adorned with a fresh coat of fallen snow.  Although I was exposed to his work, understood his techniques, and had many of the same "tools" to use as he did, I never put paint to canvas.  Why?  I didn't "attend to" the secrets he revealed.  In other words, I didn't put them into practice.  This is often how we miss out on so much God would like to involve us in - we simply don't put into practice what it is he provides in the way of instruction or insight for our lives.

So, although seeing is part of perception, it is not the end-all.  We have to see and then "attend to" what he reveals.  When we "attend to" something, we are taking it to heart.  We keep it in the forefront of our minds, allowing the very thought of what has been revealed to permeate our every thought. In a simpler sense, it means we give service to - we invest in, spend time with. So many times we miss the fullness of perception because we "see", but we neglect the importance of "giving service to" what it is we perceive.  I know a lot of things about various people in my life - their likes, dislikes, what makes them laugh, what could make them cry, what words shut them down, what words build them up.  How did I learn these things?  By paying attention to them.  Now, how foolish would it be to know all these things and then ignore each and every one of them?  

God's place of impacting our lives is at the point of our attentiveness to the details he reveals.  Plain and simple - revelation is one thing - action taken upon what is revealed is quite another.  If we find ourselves "stumbling around" a little in this daily walk, it might just be related to not having "put into practice" what it is we already have been taught.  We are all blank canvases - God knowing exactly what he desires to bring forth on the canvas of our lives.  He gives us various tools, shows us the steps to follow to allow the creation of his "artwork" in our lives, but if we never pick up the brush and apply a little paint, we will still be blank canvases when it is all said and done!  Just sayin!

There is an app for that!

I helped a friend get a new phone yesterday.  It was time to upgrade and we wanted to explore the options.  I am always amazed at just how smart technology becomes and just how reliant we all become on this "smart" technology!  There is an "app" for everything!  Except "little things" like ...being agreeable, being sympathetic, acting in a loving manner, exercising compassion, and living in a truly humble manner!  Now, when they develop these "apps", I will be first in line to sign up for them!


Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.  (1 Peter 3:8-9 The Message)


Wouldn't it be nice to be able to push a button, work through a few simple steps and "poof"...we came across as agreeable in "tough" conversation moments?  Or how about being able to take an infrared scan of our eyeball to somehow communicate some "blessing" for another person?  We'd all want these "apps", wouldn't we?  But...life is just not this easy!  It takes work to be agreeable and commitment to be a blessing.  It takes connection to be sympathetic, just as much as it does to be truly loving.


No matter how "smart" technology gets, I don't find human beings getting a whole lot "smarter" when it comes to living life as Peter described in our passage today!  No amount of technology or self-help system gets us to the place of living as we should.  We need divine help!  


Let's look at a few of these, shall we?


- Be agreeable.  Simply put...this is being gracious.  It is living in such a way so as to constant produce harmony within the relationships we impact.  Now, how many of us actually are at this point?  I daresay, not many, me included! One thing I have seen as I get to know people....grace embraced is grace displayed.  In other words, the more we "need" grace in our lives, and the more we embrace it when extended, we often become a little more willing to extend "grace" when it is needed.  Start with embracing grace...then begin to extend it just as freely as you have received it.  In the end, you will be practicing "harmonious" living!


- Be sympathetic.  In the simplest terms, being sympathetic is really a sense of "identifying" with another's circumstances, feelings, or needs.  It is an ability to be compassionate because you understand the old adage:  "There, but for the grace of God, go I."  We understand the same "bad thing" may have happened to us (or maybe has in the past).  There is a connection made in not being judgmental of another's circumstances when you exercise sympathy.


- Be loving and compassionate.  Compassion is really closely related to being sympathetic - there is a desire to alleviate the sorrow or meet the need of the one who is suffering.  Connecting love with compassion is natural.  When we are loving - we are thinking of someone other than ourselves.  When we exercise compassion, we are looking for a way to bring someone out of their place of hurt.  They go hand-in-hand.


- Be humble and don't retaliate.  Now, why would I put these two together?  Well, why do we retaliate?  Isn't it because we feel like we have been "done wrong"?  What is the opposite of feeling like someone should treat us differently?  It is not being a doormat which people can walk all over, but it is learning to live in a manner which is courteously respectful of others.  The opposite of retaliation is learning to return courteous respect, even when the other person may not "deserve" it (humble).


- Be a blessing.  Well, if I could get a "bless" button for my phone, I'd be pointing it left and right, blessing all of you with the many things you desire like solid relationships, reliable jobs, consistent walks, etc.  The one thing I can do in the absence of such an "app" is to learn to bestow good upon others.  It is not as easy as it seems, but when I start at the top of this list and work my way down, being a blessing is an outflow of the other "life applications"!


Now, maybe we don't have "apps" for these, but we can learn to "apply" them to our lives.  In the end they become "life applications" which we can use over and over again!  Just sayin!