Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

What Do We See in the Mirror?

Every day we spend time looking at ourselves in the mirror.  We use it to see ourselves, to make sure things are in place, to apply our make-up, fix our hair, make sure there is nothing in our teeth, see if our tummy shows less with our top tucked in or out…we use it all the time, right?  But, when you look in the mirror what do you see?  I am positive that none of us see ourselves the way others view us.  We look for our own faults, and we tend to be much harder on ourselves than we are on others.  We look so that we can present ourselves to others looking the best we can.

I wish there was a mirror for my heart, one that would be honest with me and tell me who I really am on the inside.  See, our hearts are so deceitful; our hearts tell us what we want to hear.  I am pretty sure that my heart can convince me to believe anything that I want so that I can get my own way.  The Bible confirms this in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  And there is a mirror for our hearts too – the Bible.  The Word of God is likened to a mirror in James 1:23-25, “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

The Bible exposes our hearts, who we are, what we’re like, what makes us think and behave the way we do.  The Bible shows us that we are sinners, and that left to ourselves we imagine wickedness, we may not always carry it out, but we sure think it! “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  Genesis 6:5. What a horrible truth we must admit! “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  I Corinthians 15:57

I am a Christian.  By definition, that means that I should be like Christ.  As a born again believer I am a blood washed child of God – God is my Father, the Creator of the universe tells me I may go boldly to His throne of grace and make my requests known unto Him.  I may call Him Abba, Father – meaning I can call Him Daddy.  He loves me, He has a plan and a purpose for my life.  He has left me a Book of Instructions, a Love Letter like no other.  He has regened me and sealed my soul with His Holy Spirit until the day of redemption!  God has given me His Holy Spirit to guide me, comfort me, teach me, empower me, help me to remember the things God has taught me, convict me when I go astray – even in my thoughts!  That is so amazing!  God has equipped me so that I may fulfill His will, and have all that I need to accomplish great things for His honor and glory.

God left us here so that we may continue His work.  “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”  John 14:12 Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.  Our job is to do the same – seek the lost and lead them to the Saviour that died to save their soul.  That is our first and foremost purpose for being here.  When a soul is saved that glorifies the Father, when we witness to others of God’s greatness, he is pleased.

For the last several days I have had a burning thought on my heart.  My husband and I watched a filtered version of American Sniper.  What a story of patriotism!  Chris Kyle was definitely an American hero!  In one scene in the film he was home from one of his tours, and as he was driving with his family in the car – he said, “there is a war going on, people are dying, and I am going to the mall?” 

In my heart, the thought that has been brewing is that we, as Christians, are also in a war –

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

So, what do these two things have to do with each other?  Well, I thought about looking at myself -am I the soldier that God wants me to be?

We are admonished to put on the whole amour of God to protect us from the wiles of the devil, He works to trip us up and worry about things that don’t matter.  He is a master of diversion – like what magicians do – they get you to look at one thing so we won’t see them do their trick.  He gets us off track – and I would have to say that it sure seems that many Christians are off track right now. Our number one concern should be to yield to our Lord and Savior.  We have a sovereign and mighty God – He has a plan, a will, and a way for each of us; and if we yield ourselves and submit our will to His, He will lead us and guide us to do the things that He has for us.  To walk in close union with God doing His will brings peace, joy, and fulfillment in life that nothing else can ever offer.  We get caught up in the cares of this world that are vain.  I am not saying we can’t be concerned with things in this world – we just need to remember that is not our main purpose in life.  In other words – I can have a home and work to keep it clean and cared for, after all, I am to be a keeper at home; but my sole purpose in life should not be my house!  Not too long ago my husband made a statement in a message as he preached saying, “we should realize that there is a “soul” purpose in everything we do; we mustn’t think that God’s plan is as trivial as sending us to the store alone – it is so that we may reach someone with the gospel.”  Will everyone get saved?  No, but we should strive to give everyone the opportunity to get saved.  We should be giving out the gospel at every opportunity we get.  We may not be able to take the time to present the gospel to each person, but we can certainly give them a gospel tract so they can see what the Bible says about going to heaven.

Yet, Christians, how often do we take time apart from our day to day routine to stop and think that people are dying and going to hell, and it is our responsibility to warn them, to tell them “the good things God has done for us?”  We are in a mighty war striving through the power of God to save some from the burning, to keep people out of hell – and we are worried about trivial things that don’t matter.  Church leaders bicker over preferences, and the world watches and shakes their head in disbelief – I know because I have relatives that can’t believe that some preachers are unloving toward other Christians because of differences in clothing choices!   I absolutely have standards about what I wear and seek always to be modest, but in the grand scheme of things, it is more important that a person hear the gospel.

So, back to the mirror – let’s think about it for a minute here.  If the Bible is a mirror – how about the first thing we do is rely on the Bible and make it a part of our daily routine like we do with our mirrors at home.  I would venture to say that all of us look in a mirror every day – we don’t leave the house without it, right?  I believe it would make a huge difference in our lives if we rely on the mirror of the Word of God as much as we do the mirrors in our bathrooms.

When we look in our mirrors we hope to see an improvement after we put on our makeup, after we brush our hair – and when we see something out of place, we correct it.  When we see things out of place in our lives in the Bible we should do the same thing – we should correct what’s wrong.

As Christians what should we see?

We should see ourselves as loved and forgiven.

We should see ourselves as someone for whom God willingly and lovingly sacrificed His only begotten Son.

We should see ourselves as God’s children

We should see ourselves as someone that has a purpose in life:

·         to please and glorify our Heavenly Father because we love Him with all our heart, soul, and  might

·         to go into all the world and preach the gospel

·         pray on a daily basis, without ceasing

·         obey the Lord

·         Yield to the Lord

·         love others as we love ourselves

·         forgive as we are forgiven

While we have to admit, that we don’t always like what we see in the mirror – there is so much good to see in the mirror of God’s Word!  Let’s take the time to see it!

Have a wonderful day!