James 1:23-24 GNT
If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like.
Mona Lisa wasn’t smiling? For 500 years, Lisa’s smile has been a source of speculation and a muse for artists of all mediums. But what if she really wasn’t smiling? After a decade of studying over 1600 multispectral photos and x-rays, French scientist, Pascal Cotte, assures us that there are underpaintings and spolvero under Mona Lisa. Spolvero is a method using charcoal dust to transfer paper sketches to a canvas. This means there could be a paper version of Mia Donna Lisa, but you might not recognize her! The spolevero and underpaintings indicate that among several wardrobe modifications, she also wouldn’t be smiling or gazing directly at you!
But after 500 years of looking at her, would we be able to see another face? One doesn’t even need to be an art connoisseur to recognize her, because we have been exposed to her facing being plastered all over in pop culture from Andy Warhol to lunch boxes! The mere-exposure effect suggests that we like things because of our exposure to them consciously or unconsciously. Social psychologist, Robert Zajonc, conducted an experiment in 1968. “People were shown a series of abstract shapes in rapid succession. Some shapes were repeated, but because they came and went so fast, the subjects didn’t notice. When asked which of these random shapes they found most pleasing, they chose ones that, unbeknown to them, had come around more than once. Even unconscious familiarity bred affection.” (Ruffian, 2022)
Which leads me to wonder, how much time are we spending in the Word of God? If exposure and familiarity lead to affection, are we familiar with God and His word? Or, like James 1: 23-24, are we looking in a mirror, walking away, and forgetting? I appreciate The Living Bible’s translation of Psalm 119:11, “I have thought much about your words and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from sin.” I’m not talking about rote memorization, religious recitations, or tedious ceremonies, but individually and intentionally saturating our souls with Living Words so our lives reflect our Living Lord’s face. One that can’t not be hidden behind layers of paint or forgotten.
