A mirror is
probably one of the most honest things there is. It doesn’t lie. Every time
one looks into a mirror there is an accurate reflection of exactly what we are.
About the only way to make a mirror lie is to distort it. Even then, the
reflection is not flattering.
James, the half-brother
of Jesus wrote, looking into the Bible one can see self in his natural face.
This means bare bones, nothing doctored up. An actor can be made up to appear
very different than natural, but that becomes hypocrisy. The word hypocrite is
an old word for an actor, one who pretends to be someone else. The Bible rips
away the veneer of pretense and lays bare what we are in God’s view. The Mirror
of the Soul (the Bible) reveals the origin of the soul (Genesis 2:7). It
equally tells us the great value of the soul (Matthew 16:26). The mirror God holds
up before us also shows us our personal defects and shortcomings (Galatians
5:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:1-5). Most important of all it shows us the eternal
destiny of the soul (Matthew 25:46).
The mirrors we
use sometimes get smudged and dirty. Good housekeepers will clean them with
diligence. A dirty mirror tends to blur our vision of what we actually look
like. When clean, a better and accurate image is reflected. The Word of God is
ever clean and pure (Psalm 12:6). It never fails to show us what the Lord
thinks of us. James pictures one who, after seeing self in God’s mirror,
instantly walks away and forgets what was seen. The tenses show that one takes
a look (once) then instantly ignores it and continues to avoid the mirror. The
only one blessed is the honest person who sees self as God sees him, makes
whatever corrections are needed, and does what God would have him do. Take a
good look at yourself in the Bible. What do you see? What does God see? “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” (James 1:23-25).
[Hebrews 11] A
ship was damaged and disabled causing it to be wrecked off the Rhode Island
coast one winter day. A father and son managed to get into a lifeboat. The
father refused to let his son help row the boat. Upon reaching land, the father
found his son frozen to death. The boy needed activity in order to live.
What is true of
the physical body is true of the Body of Christ, the Church, there needs to be
an active faith in following God. Yet, what I often encounter with many people
today who claim to be Believers, is that having “faith” simply means that one
just acknowledges that there is a Christ. Some today think that if you merely
confess that Jesus is one’s Savior, and you pray that He will come into your
heart, you will be saved. That just going to a church building is good enough
to express one’s faith in God. That if you give a little money here and there
to the church everything will be alright with God. In God’s Word, faith is
action, obedience, it is a response to God and not just a mental belief alone.
Our faith in Christ causes us to act in ways God has prescribed, and
Christianity, then, becomes an active lifestyle. “And without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and
that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). I am encouraged to
see that legislators in many states are returning to look into the mirror of
God’s Word, passing legislation to reinstate the Ten Commandments in public
schools and appropriate common-sense education. God-fearing parents are speaking
out causing this action, and many more, and God is answering our prayers. God
save America!
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