The Answer

To understand the ‘practical’ life, we have to look at the two mirrors described in the New Testament. In James 1:23-25, James likens the word to a mirror where a man beholds his ’natural face.’ When you look into this mirror, you are looking at your own natural man—the self that Paul says was crucified with Christ. This mirror, which represents the Law, is designed to expose your spots and blemishes. It shows you exactly who you are in your fallen state, but it offers no power to change what you see. It is a ministry of condemnation that leaves you in a crisis, showing you that you cannot ‘do’ enough to be blessed.

James tells us that the man who looks and walks away is a ‘forgetful hearer.’ In a legalistic system, we are told this means we just need to try harder to remember the rules. But the truth is deeper: if your lack of ‘doing’ doesn’t bring you to a crisis of ’Oh wretched man that I am,’ it’s because you’ve forgotten what the mirror showed you—that you are a sinner incapable of keeping the Law. James focuses on the principle of ‘doing’ to be blessed, which echoes the Old Testament promise of Deuteronomy 28. It is the life of a servant seeking a wage, not the life of a son enjoying an inheritance.

Now, look at Paul’s mirror in 2 Corinthians 3:18. Paul says we behold ‘as in a glass the glory of the Lord.’ Notice the difference? James has you looking at your own face; Paul has you looking at the face of Jesus Christ. Paul’s mirror is the Gospel. When we behold Him, we aren’t just shown our flaws; we are ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory.’ This isn’t self-improvement or behavior modification; it is transformation by the Spirit. In Paul’s mirror, we don’t find a list of things to do; we find a Person who has already done everything.

True ‘practical’ Christianity isn’t about looking in a mirror to see what you need to fix; it’s about being ‘unveiled’ to see that Christ is your life. Paul’s revelation in Galatians 2:20—’I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me’—is the most practical statement in the Bible. It moves the burden of living from your shoulders to His. James wrote his letter to the Jews in Jerusalem before this mystery was fully revealed. He was reflecting the light he had at the time, which was still heavily influenced by the Law and the Temple.

If you use James as your manual for living, you are operating in the ‘flesh’—trying to perfect what began in the Spirit. This always leads to burnout because the Law has no power to transform the heart. It can only demand, but it cannot supply. Paul, however, teaches sanctification through union. You are a vessel designed to contain and reflect the riches of Christ. Practical living, according to Paul, is the ‘hearing of faith.’ It is receiving the supply of the Spirit so that Christ’s life flows through you naturally, like a fragrance.

We must realize that James’s mirror is meant to bring us to the end of ourselves. It shows us that if we break the Law in one point, we are guilty of all (James 2:10). This should drive us to flip the mirror and look where Paul points: to the glory of God in the face of Jesus. When we stop staring at our ’natural face’ and start beholding our Savior, the practical life happens as a byproduct of His life in us. You don’t need more rules; you need more of the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ that Paul was commissioned to share.