Nose Hair and Other Fun Stuff

James 1:22-25

 ²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ 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.

Every time I read that passage I think of something that happened several years ago.

I used to work in a carpentry shop.  On our lunch break we would sit at tables and watch the noontime local news.  One day I was sitting next to a coworker, Carl.  Carl was a nice enough guy and for the most part I liked the dude.  There was just one issue.  Old boy had a ton of hair growing out of his nose!  It wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration to say that I needed to lean forward in my chair in order to see the television screen.  So I asked him, “Carl, do you look in the mirror in the mornings?”  “Of course, every day when I shave, why?” he asked.  I wasn’t quite as nice of a guy back then, so I said “Because you’ve got a danged FOREST growing out of your nose!”  I don’t remember Carl’s exact response but after the laughter in the room died down, I’m fairly certain it was a profanity-laced retort.  The next day, Carl came to work with significantly less hair protruding from his nostrils.  Feeling bad about embarrassing him in front of the other guys, I resisted the temptation to ask how many times he needed to change the line on his Weed-Wacker and simply gave his the classic dude “head nod” which he returned with a slight smirk. 

You see, while I didn’t speak with kindness and gentleness, I had done Carl a huge favor.  I pointed out an issue that needed addressing and as a result became the new and improved Carl. From that point, I never saw him with anything sticking out of his nose. 

I want to view the Bible as a mirror.  But instead of looking at my outward appearance Gods word can expose my soul.  I want to read a passage and ask “What does this tell me about the heart of God?” and “How what needs to change in my life so that I will be more like Him?”  If I read the Word and am convicted by it, I hope that I’ll make every effort to change for the better.

It’s pretty cool that God gave us this tool.  I feel kind of badly that in the past I hadn’t taken advantage of the great tool for self improvement. 

It should be said that as “right” as I may have been about Carl’s bushy nose, it really wasn’t my job.  So in actuality, I was (again) wrong in being right. 

In the same sense, it’s not my/our job to continuously call others out if we haven’t been given that job by them.  And unless we’re inside someone else’s mind, we have no way of truly knowing another person’s heart. 

So that’s why this post is not telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t do.  I’m just sharing where I am.  Who know?  Maybe it’s good, maybe I’m weird.  But I hope and pray that God will continue to work in me and through me.  And if I want that to happen, I need to keep looking in His mirror.  And If I see any spiritual nose hair, I pray that I’m smart enough to get out the clippers!

God bless y’all!