What’s it mean to remember? Whenever tragedy happens, we often here the phrase “never forget.” We plaster that phrase on bumper stickers, banners, and across billboards. But what does it actually mean? How are we living out our lives in a way that remembers tragedy and responds to God’s hope for the world?
Honestly? Many times we allow the memories to fade. Or we transform and twist them into our own slant. We blame others. We resort to name calling. We take sides and pontificate. We huddle up and lash out. We take to social media and add our own two cents to the endless string of human nature that pours out
I know that’s true because that’s what I do. Many times. I leave behind the deep goodness that emerged in the hours and days right after a tragedy. I become numb. I stare at the mirror but then walk away without any change of heart or action.
We need to make responding in deep goodness a part of the natural rhythm of our lives. This week we took a deep dive into what it really means to “hear and do” what Jesus says. And James tells us it’s just like looking in a mirror.
23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
James 1:23-25
Have you ever looked in the mirror, found a hair out of place or a spot on your chin or a piece of broccoli stuck between your teeth and not done something about it? It’s only natural to check our reflection and make changes. We need that same rhythm when it comes to the word of God.
John 1 tells an incredibly poetic story of creation, transformation, and divine intervention. He speaks of Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh. But as we continue reading we see that we are to become something too. The Word in us becomes a tangible life of a grander vision of God. Every time we encounter the words and works of Jesus, it’s so that we can do better, be better.
The Word of God is always redemptive rather than repressive. It’s not a way to hammer us into submission, but to guide us towards salvation. Each time we live out the heartbeat of God in his Word, we get a little closer to making it part of our life rhythm. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about making it real.
As we continue living out the Word of God in our lives – being doers, not just hearers – as we repeat it over and over, it has real opportunity to be redemptive.
How are you living out the Word of God this week? How has it been redemptive in your past?
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