But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. Hebrews 1:22-25
When we arrived in Liberia in 1986 I was full of ambition. I wanted to make a difference. No holds barred. When I was asked to teach home economics to junior and senior high girls, I eagerly accepted the challenge.
And I was on a mission. It had disturbed me from day one that, as far as I was concerned, the Liberians wore mismatched clothes. So, as part of my curriculum, I decided I would teach Liberian girls the fine art of clothing coordination. For example, I said, if you are wearing a striped or print shirt, you need to pair it with a solid skirt. If you were wearing a lappa tied at the waist, you should either wear a top that is made of the same material or a solid shirt. Under no conditions should a shirt with a pattern in the cloth be paired with a tied lappa. No competing prints. Never. No, no, no,
To illustrate my points, I brought in a few of my skirts and shirts and paired them appropriately, carefully explaining the logic behind the rule. And to test their knowledge at the end of the semester, I brought my clothing in again and created test questions by pairing items and asking which were coordinated correctly. Only one girl passed that section of the test. And this girl had a close relationship with our family and saw me six days out of seven, so of course knew which items I wore together. It was not an affirming day.
Through the years Mark and I have laughed at my futile attempt to sell something in a market that had few buyers. I was trying to "sell" my American fashion ideas to people who had their own ideas of what looked good. Not only did they not adopt my fashion sensibilities, they couldn't even understand my point.
And of course that has happened many times on a spiritual level as well. Mark and I have shared biblical truth with Liberians and had it viewed as simply our interesting but inapplicable Western ideas. But while it is easy to be critical of the Liberians for not taking the opportunities they are given to grow spiritually, I recognize I have been guilty of doing the same—hearing truth but doing nothing about it. Knowing the truth, but being reluctant to obey because, after all, it doesn't really apply to me.
However, as I have yielded to the authority of the Word of God and not been a "forgetful hearer," the fruit has been very sweet in my life. By God's grace I am much more peaceful inside and out. And, needless to say, all of this has happened without competing prints in my clothing. Never. No, no, no.
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