He said what?

I love running into one of those verses in the Bible that just sound so crazy. Those are the ones that stick to memory banks for decades because it's so out of the box, so unexpected but so mysteriously deep. Usually they're simple and short. They come with a visual you won't stop seeing.

This week Disney give me a whole new picture for one of these verses. Hopefully I'm not giving any spoiler alerts to The Lion King by telling you about Simba looking into the water for an answer the wise old monkey wanted to reveal to him. In that moment, I thought of the man who looks at his reflection and doesn't remember what it looks like. Here's the verse:

"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." James 1:23‭-‬24 NIV

This crazy-sounding guy wasted no time forgetting what he saw. The Bible says he immediately forgot. What an odd thing for someone to do. It seems especially odd to someone like me sitting here in American culture where everyone seems so obsessed with how they look to the point that they can't stop posting it on social media, to whatever measures of posting it the way they want to be seen. We've got people imprisoned in comparison traps over their looks because of social media.

Simba doesn't turn out that way though. Neither should any Christian. When you read the entire chapter of James 1, you see the dilemma a Christian faces. They hear the Word but knowing and doing become two different things. The doing takes a lot of initiative and practice. To truly see the reflection of yourself as one within the identity of your Holy Father, God in Heaven, takes a serious moment of openness in heart in mind and allowance of a gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. Simba's best friend was trying to remind him of his identity, telling him all the things he heard and loved to hear before. But only a persistent monkey could catch up with him and push the lion cub to take a second look at his reflection in the water.

That circle of life would have been at a standstill if Simba walked away immediately forgetting his calling and his purpose. But the monkey stirred the waters and made him look again. The Spirit is stirring us all within to take a second look, move beyond what's comfortable and step into the reality of who and whose you are.

Let's go back to where James started in his teaching before he told us about this man with serious short term memory issues.

"Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." James 1:4‭-‬5‭

Certainly for Simba a mature life was not going to happen while frolicking in a safe environment oblivious to the destruction happening in his homeland, singing worry free jingles, eating junk food and making fart jokes with his new friends.

God calls us to much more. Are you ready to really see it? Ask and you'll receive. Be ready to find joy in the trial. Watch how God grows you through it over and over again. That's the unforgettable Christian journey that fuels my every step and gives me stuff to blog about!