Resources/Articles
"Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall..."
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a mirror:
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of
man he was.
James 1.23-24
The mirror the wicked witch in the movie Snow White had could be either a self-esteem booster or an ego deflator.The wicked witch liked it when the mirror told her she was the fairest of them all. When it told her she was not, she got very angry and very jealous.
The good thing about mirrors is they always tell us the truth. We can always trust the image. It is true every time, whether we like it or not. The bad thing is, we often do not like what we see. If we do not like what is reflected, it is not the mirror’s fault. There is no defect in the mirror. It is showing you reality, not make-believe. A mirror shows back to us what we put in front of it. Therefore, do not be mad at the mirror.
In the reflection from the mirror, do you see something needing a change? Is it really that noticeable? The closer you get to the mirror to see the image, the more glaring the defect. Now it becomes more noticeable. Will you make some changes? Are you going to cover up the flaw? Will you leave everything as it is? Will you cast a good image before those you meet each day?
Who Or What Is Your Mirror?
Every married person has his or her spouse as a mirror. What we place in the form of attitudes, actions, and words before our mates each day is an image burned into their hearts. It either reflects an image of God or it reflects a selfish, proud image of a person who wants it ALL his or her own way. A husband is a leader of his marriage. A wife is a helper in her marriage. Those are God’s responsibilities He gives to every man and woman who enters into this holy union. It is not an optional assignment (Ephesians 5.22-31). This is who God wants reflected in marriage. It may be your intent to “put your best foot forward” in dating your future spouse, but in marriage God expects you to place His image before your spouse each day. Ask God to help you cast that heavenly image.
Some people have their parents as their mirror. They are reflecting what their parents taught and lived like before them. Many of us become like our parents because this is the mirror through which we lived each day, because they lived this way before us. We often refuse to question what it looks like, because they are our parents. Would the image they cast be faulty? Our parents may have done what we are doing. They may be a reflection of what they received from their parents. Consider, though, what the mirror of God says about the responsibility of each child: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right” (Ephesians 6.1). As a child, think, understand, and apply what God desires for you to reflect in your life. Live what is right before your parents and before God.
Friends can also become a mirror. Besides parents, children spend a lot of time with friends at school, at church, or on sports teams. If not with them somewhere, we are talking to them on the phone or through social media. We cast before our friends an image of good or bad. Now, they do their part in presenting an image in front of us. We “bounce ideas” off each other. We use the same words. We imitate each other’s style of clothes. We love, like, hate, buy, hear, or taste all the same things. We cast images before one another all the time. Because we are friends, we may never check on whether the image we place in front of them is right or wrong. We just enjoy doing things with them. We need to pay attention to the values each of us are leading the other to duplicate. The mirror of God says, “Be not deceived, evil companionships corrupt good morals” (1 Corinthians 15.33).
God and His word are mirrors as well. The interesting thing with this mirror is the earnest petition made by God and HIs word to duplicate what we hear, see, and read from Him. 1 Peter 1.16 says, “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.” God insists we be hearers and doers of the word. The importance of this mirror is we will see who God is. Our understanding of Him will lead us to know of His goodness, justice, truth, and righteousness. As a result, reading HIs word will be a mirror of the type of people He wants us to be. When we understand who we are (Romans 3.23), we will know changes need to be made. God will not accept our sin. He desires for us to admit what we see our image is compared to His word. He does not want us to go away. God wishes for all men to repent and be saved (1 Timothy 2.4; 2 Peter 3.9). It is the hope of God that we will look in the mirror and want to dress ourselves into the new man He created “in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4.24), for God knows it is our image of Him within us which leads others to glory in His name (Matthew 5.16).
