How Do You Read the Bible?

Here's a simple parable with an important moral.

Each mirror, you see, has inspectors, who, acting as corporate protectors, must find any scratch, every unseemly patch. They're inferior mirror detectors.

The head of this group is Pierre, who trains his formidable stare on each glass for an hour, and does he turn sour when finding some blemishes there! This man, so well-trained as a peerer, has no practical use for a mirror. His hair's such a tangle, seen from any angle. We wish that his mirror were clearer.

"Pierre," I repeatedly mention, "Your hair's now a bone of contention. Now, sir, you just hush! I have bought you a brush, and some spray for your hairdo's retention."

Do you think that such mild conversation will effect any quick transformation? Not until he observes what is fraying our nerves: his nightmare-hair irritation.

Now we know there's been many a preacher, or a prideful, and self-proclaimed teacher, who's examined God's mirror, and cried, "Could be clearer!" but never saw what kind of creature the mirror to them has reflected. They must face what they never expected: if the glass is looked through, then so clear is the view, that the critics themselves are inspected.

As James, the brother of Jesus writes, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it?he will be blessed in what he does." --James 1:22?25 NIV

* * *

Copyright � 2005 Steve Singleton, All rights reserved.

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles on subjects of interest to Bible students. He has taught Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses Bible college, university, and adult education programs. He has taught seminars and workshops in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his http://DeeperStudy.org for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore "The Shallows," plumb "The Depths," or use the well-organized "Study Links" for original sources in English translation. Sign up for Steve's free "DeeperStudy Newsletter."

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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-11232008-1626401.htmlcid=0ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNHKnWanMOhBzAaHWSWwd3eTRF_DhQGot a story to tell?/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fphillyBurbs.com,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobr1 hour ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1But do you have a great story, an binspirational/b story, a hilarious, bizarre or unbelievable story? The kind of story that, when you tell your friends, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-11-05-voa68.cfmcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNFAh7i9dUta00tnW4STKpmHIPiJVQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=PLNdundxzegJimgurl=www.voanews.com/english/images/AP_Rice_on_Obama_05NOV08.jpg width=77 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Voice of America/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEZDGk7Pl-oafbXDJAF1GY2yZU6gcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNFSkBTeFPwU04VGW6PIS9hb1p_pfgAs proud African American, Rice calls Obama #39;binspirational/b#39;/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fAFPnbsp;-/font nobrNov 5, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday called President-elect Barack Obama quot;binspirational/b,quot; saying his election marked quot;an b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DbtFoHq6ttOAcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNH_p8O91fpWrGN80WCJP5eoRYBTUgVideo: Rice Congratulates Obama on Victory/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAssociatedPress/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/btFoHq6ttOA/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/btFoHq6ttOAtype=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx%3FID%3D90eba6fb-233b-4484-9009-bcf858354e7bcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNE5QTn_9jHeWVFCgyp9IzZUXUP4hQRice calls Obama quot;binspirational/bquot;, promises smooth transition/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrHindustan Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24610104-12377,00.htmlcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNEkD86oQwxEpawI4lOACKK0t8glTQRice hails #39;binspirational/b#39; Obama/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Australian/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/05/america/NA-US-Elections-Rice.phpcid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNGdzeuHrYPcj7i20b8I3SJE9BQXsQnobrInternational Herald Tribune/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6040429/Bush-praises-Obama-win-pledges-smooth-handovercid=1267202318ei=L4UpSbeSKY3W6gOFrsDTCQusg=AFQjCNGeFe8GxQa2iJhxN5ufHJ0qzlvtZwnobrRadio Netherlands/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1267202318hl=ennobrall 321 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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