Someone recently commented, “You are not photogenic. You look more lovely in person”. I could never appreciate the sentiment of those well intended words, because I have never seen myself. Others have seen what I look like but not me. You may say, “But don;t you see yourself in the mirror everyday?” I do. The mirror however, only provides a faint reflection of my true image. I still am only as good as being photogenic through a mirror. I miss beholding the real me.
It’s sort of true in life too. People around us see us with better clarity than we see ourselves. When I Instagram the prettiest version of myself and my accolades my neighbour is quick to see the wrinkles beneath the paint. We tend to see our performances through rose colored glasses, while our bosses see the grave error of our works. We think they are critical, but the truth is, we are wishful. We even think we aren’t as stupid or bad as “that person”, always finding a way to make the mirror within tell us we are the fairest of them all.
No glasses are more opaque than pride. It’s hard to break them. It really is.
There is however one mirror that tells the truth better than others or ourselves. James calls this the perfect law of liberty (Jas 1:25) also known as God’s law, naturally revealed and consciously put into our souls by our Maker. When someone looks into this mirror, it reveals not what is outside but what is inside us. Its vision is 20/20. I have found that the more I look into this mirror, the more I see my darkness within. No one else can see this but myself and the One who made me. In more recent times I have been developing a disgust for the things I perceive within myself by peeping into this boundless mirror. At times, it feels like others see the abyss as I see it, but the truth is, no one else can see it as I do. This mirror tells the truth.
Interestingly this mirror is also called the “perfect law of liberty”. How can something that shows my most disgusting parts ever free me? How can the warden who condemns and binds me bring me relief? How can the lock ever be the key? It can’t. It doesn’t. But just as the clue to the key is designed into the lock, this perfect mirror also showed me where i must look for liberty: outside of itself, outside of myself. By looking more into the mirror I wasn’t going to look any better, only worse. By avoiding the mirror and listening to my inner voices I wasn’t getting better, only worse. I must face the mirror and look for someone else. I must look for someone who sees my abyss along with me, but isn’t disgusted. I must look for one who sees the wrinkles and decides to give me the facelift I desperately need. Who else better than Christ, the God-Man? He is God in that He sees me better than I ever can or others ever will. He is Man in that He sees the ugly parts and isn’t perturbed. He becomes Christ by getting down & dirty with me to cleanse me from my sins. But he doesn’t use the mirror. He uses pure water instead. They call it Gospel-love. This love doesn’t make me a princess overnight, uh uh. Instead, this love continues to show me who I truly am, and what Christ becomes for me in my place. The perfect law still shows me that I am the worst person there ever is, but Christ’s Gospel-love takes me back to the mirror and shows me another instead – Jesus in my place. May I take such a view of myself each day, for where I see my dark abyss, may I there find my crucified Savior too.
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”- 1 Tim 1:15
“ #Mirrors #Gospel