PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE

PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE!

James 1:21-25

21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

           One of the great burdens of shepherding people is that, after a while, God gives you insight into the lives of those people. Often their true condition is clearer to you, the shepherd, than to themselves. It is as if they had just emerged from the bathroom trailing toilet paper on their shoe! They continue in their formal dignity not knowing how ridiculous they appear.

           When news of some great sin becomes known, and many say they didn’t see it coming, it is often the shepherd who will admit that he saw the signs and is not surprised. The shepherd knows his sheep because it is his business to watch over their health and welfare. He is not nosey. He truly is minding his own business which is observing his sheep and warning them of danger.

           Often the loss of face that occurs when a sin is revealed seems to concern the sinner more than the sin itself. Wouldn’t you want to know if you were trailing toilet paper on your shoe or had a huge chunk of spinach in your teeth? Wouldn’t you want your blemishes revealed so that you could make corrections? The answer often is no. Pointing out blemishes does not make a person popular.

           Look at your own nose! Go ahead! Give it a try! We can stare cross-eyed at our own nose without really seeing what needs to be seen. A proper view requires a mirror but, while the sight might not be pretty, no correction is possible without a clear view.

Dear Lord, let me go on looking into the mirror of the Bible so that I might make corrections to the self I see reflected in it. More and more make me like Jesus. AMEN