Necessary Corrections

When you look in a mirror, it shows you something. Sometimes you see something that others were seeing, but you weren’t aware of it.

For instance, maybe there’s a string of cheese hanging from your lip from the omelet you had that morning. No wonder everyone was smiling at you and looking away. You were thinking, “I must look good today!” But you had cheese hanging from your face. The mirror showed you the problem, and you made the necessary correction.

In the same way, when we read the Bible, it transforms us. The psalmist David wrote, “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7 NLT). God’s Word transforms the way think and the way we live. It changes us.

But here’s what we must remember. It is not enough to simply read the Bible. We must do what the Bible says.

James 1:22–25 tells us, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (NLT).

Do you have any Bible verses memorized? We have so much information in our brain that we’ve committed to memory, from movie lines to song lyrics. But those things can’t sustain us when we’re facing adversity in life. Certainly, we can make some room in our minds for the Word of God.

The Bible is God’s Word to us, and we should obey it and treasure it.