By Dr. Dan Coflin, River of Life Church
Your daily routine may include spending time in front of your bathroom mirror which is usually followed by spending time in front of your full-length mirror. One is to scrutinize your face while the other is to determine if what you are wearing is going to be satisfactory to either hide this or that or maybe highlight the better parts. If we are really serious, we have one of those 4x’s or 10x’s magnification mirrors so we can see every little detail and deal with the faults the best we can. Mirrors are usually agents of torment that remind us of our imperfections, but did you know the Scriptures have something to say about mirrors?
“Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life! If you listen to the Word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the Word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning. You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the Word, but then you go out and forget your divine origin.”
Here the Apostle James is showing us that when we look into the Word of God it is like looking into a mirror and the reflection we see is how God sees us. Many people think that God looks on them with great disapproval and is always pointing out the things that are not yet right with them. They are constantly living in condemnation feeling like they don’t measure up and have failed to please God. Although this idea is common it is not true.
God has already forgiven us. He does not remember our sins and transgressions anymore. All our sin, guilt, shame has been removed from us, washed away to restore us to carry His image. Jesus did all the work. He carried the judgment for our sin on the cross to restore us to God. Now God lives in us. God has given us new clothes to wear. He tells us to take off the old garments of sin and shame and put on the new clothes of the new person he has made us to be. We are supposed to look like Him. When we look into the mirror of the Word of God we are to see the one who made us in His image and likeness. Then we are to carry that image throughout our day.
You may not yet have discovered how God sees you; How much He loves you and His purpose and desires for you. You may have a distorted image of yourself, but I have good news for you. I know where you can find the image of the glory of God. You see the knowledge of the glory of God is found in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and as we look into the mirror of God’s Word we are changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord.
(Scripture references: Jms. 1:22-24 TPT; 2 Cor. 4:6; 2 Cor. 3:18)