How Well Do You Use Your Mirror?

One day in high school I remember one of my teachers bemoaning the fact that she learned over the weekend that she was going to need to purchase a 10x magnification lighted travel mirror.  I also remember that I and the rest of the girls in class laughed because we thought it was funny that she was fussing over this “problem”.

It’s not funny. No. Really. It is not funny.

I now find myself looking for the same item as I’m getting ready for several weeks of travel in the next few months.  Everyone knows that hotel mirrors and lighting are the absolute worst!

James 1:22-25 - But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

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.

Not long ago our pastor preached from James 1. As I read the verses, I kept going back to the “glass,” or mirror.  We look in mirrors every day as we prepare for our day; it’s our routine. We look in mirrors throughout the day to make sure that we still look good; we make sure hair is in place, that there’s no food in our teeth, or that our make up is fresh looking. We look in the mirror at the end of the day as we prepare to go to bed. Some spend an inordinate amount of time making sure everything is right on the outside, some just a cursory glance. Still others break out the magnifying mirror to tweeze those errant hairs, check those blemishes, or make sure that the fine lines aren’t holding more make up than they should.

How many times do we use the mirror of God’s Word in the same way? James says that to look in the Word of God and only hear (or read) what it says and not to do it, is just the same as someone who looks in a mirror, sees a problem, but moves on without doing anything about it. I realize this may be an “elementary” spiritual thought but I do not believe that we are truly looking at this as deeply as we should be.

Many times I have read my Bible to be sure that I “read my Bible for the day;” I must have my devotions every day.  So, I read the Bible plan or the devotional book without really paying attention, just as would look in the mirror every morning getting ready. But there are other days that the Lord would use His words that day much like a lighted mirror.  A problem would be shown to me that I needed to deal with. I have two choices: 1) deal with the superficial problem, clean up what is seen, or 2) turn the mirror around to the magnified side, increase the lighting and really deal with the root of the problem, not just the fruit. I think that all too often we do not want to use God’s Word as a magnifying mirror that can see all the nooks and crannies holding grudges, the blemishes of sin, the errant hairs of wrong teachings or philosophies, the age spots of past hurts. Rather, we prefer to see a little bit of dirt, clean it up and move on believing that all is well. We look great on the outside, while on the inside our soul remains filthy.

Oh that we will use God’s Word as a magnifying mirror into our soul to clean out the roots of sin instead of simply dealing with the fruit.