Lesson 6: Faith’s self-assessment
James 1:22-25
 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

 Faith in God, to be real, must be active faith. It is not something we can have to hang it on a wall like a pretty picture. It must show itself in our daily lives, in our actions and in our thoughts. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

As we read in our first verse for today, it is easy for us to deceive ourselves. We can justify almost any action to ourselves! This is especially true if we are not reading and studying the Bible every day. Just as Verse 23 says, we forget what the Bible says when we are not truly seeking its wisdom for our lives each day. An example of this might be this: I love music, and I sing songs to myself through much of my day. I suddenly become aware that I am trying to sing a song to which I do not remember all the words, and I find myself making up words to sing. That is also what we do when we try to live our lives without studying the Bible every day – we forget the words, and try to make up words that sound right to us.

When we keep looking at the “perfect law” we find how much we need His help in our lives to do what is impossible for us. Then the wonderful miracle He does in us, as we give ourselves to be used by Him, is that He does the perfect work through us instead of us trying to do it in our own effort or strength.


Our responsibility is to look at ourselves honestly through the words of the Bible, and understand we cannot do what He asks in His perfect law. We cannot honor Him as He is worthy to be honored for we turn worship into something that is pleasing to us rather than asking if it is pleasing to Him. We cannot love others as He loves them because we love others so we can feel good about ourselves and what we have done for them.

Our only hope is to ask Him to do through us what He asks of us. We ask Him to love others through us with His love. His love always speaks the truth without destroying. His love is always patient and kind, never arrogant or rude. His love is never irritable or resentful. His love never rejoices in the hurts of others. Read the details of His love in 1 Corinthians 13.

Memorize James 1:22 (above).