…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 3:25
It is time for a self-test. In the past three posts in this series1 we’ve focused on the metaphor of Scripture as a mirror from the book of James and reflected on two themes from the book of Proverbs: the fool and the wise. James encourages us, in the conclusion of his mirror metaphor, to remember what we have seen. We begin our conclusion of these posts with a question that we introduced in the first of our posts: “How are we using the mirror?” The answer to this question will affect what we see. We can surface our answer with three quick questions:
My Subject:
Am I looking in the mirror to find all the qualities that make me stand out from the crowd?
Or am I looking into Scriptures expecting to see myself as one member of a common humanity?
My Purpose:
Do I long to see in the mirror’s reflection one of the minority of people who have knowledge that will make the world the place we all long for, if only the mass of humanity could understand it as well?
Or am I looking in the mirror to clearly name my particular brand of foolishness and to strengthen the areas of wisdom where I excel?
My Goal:
Am I looking at myself to try to save the world?
Or am I looking at myself to live more wisely and makegoodhappen in my relationships and my local community?
It is the second answer to each question that enables me to use the mirror of Scripture as intended. Let me look into the mirror as one of many human beings on the planet. Let me look with the desire to lessen my foolishness and strengthen my ability to makegoodhappen in the world that I actually control. Only in this way will the mirror reflect back to me how I might dive deeper into the freedom that Christianity offers, the freedom to makegoodhappen in the lives of those I love.
Bonus: If looking in the mirror makes you feel rather small and powerless in the churning sea of history, you can reflect on a saying of Agur son of Jakeh, 2 a saying that, the book of Proverbs assures us, is an “inspired utterance.”
‘Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:
ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;
hyraxes are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;
locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;
a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings’ palaces. -Proverbs 30:24-28
Wisdom doesn’t need strength or size to makegoodhappen.
Agur the son of Jakeh was a relatively unknown ancient Israelite sage. His name means "collector" or "gatherer," and his father's name, Jakeh, means "obedient" or "pious". From his sayings we can deduce that Agur was weary and worn out (verse 1), he did not consider himself wise (verses 2–4), and he considered God’s words a trustworthy guide to life. (verses 5–6). His sayings include a numbered list of sayings that include:
three things never satisfied
four things beyond Agur’s understanding
four things that cause the earth to tremble
four small things that are very wise (our passage above)
and four proud things.