Mirrors

In my house there are many mirrors. I have pretty ones on the wall, a couple that are at head height to just see my face and I have a long mirror so that I can see my whole reflection.

I also have a little mirror in my handbag for checking my make up or for using when I need to take an eyelash out of my eye.  My little mirror is great for quick touch ups on the move but it doesn’t show me much and isn’t very good if I need to see how my whole outfit looks or for noticing if my skirt is tucked into my tights!!  For this I need a full size mirror.
 
James 1:23-25 compares looking into a mirror with hearing God’s word.  He tells us that we need to look into the spiritual mirror of the Word of God and act on what we see.  If we don’t it is like walking away from a natural mirror and immediately forgetting what we look like!
 
Look into the mirror, what do you see?  Are you just glancing into it because you are happy the way you are or maybe you are afraid of what you might see?  Do you just do spot checks in a tiny mirror?  How long is it since you took a long hard look at yourself in a full size mirror to see what needs to change?
 
Our full size spiritual mirror is the Bible and we need to look intently into it and understand the context and how it applies to us.  There is some value in a little mirror for quick touch ups ie reading a daily devotional such as Word for Today, but this is not enough on its own. We need personal revelation to hear what God is saying to us as individuals.
 
There are many other types of mirrors around us in the form of people, media, literature etc giving us advice about who we are and how we should be.  Some show us only part of the picture or tell us only what we want to hear.  

What mirror are we looking into?  What do we see when we look into that mirror?  What do we do about what we see in the mirror?  Do we even bother looking into a mirror at all and leave it to chance that we are ok?
 
When you look into God’s mirror you should see the real you. 
 
You will see your physical reflection.  What condition is it in? What you are doing to maintain your body and keep it in good working order.  What needs to change there?  Do you need to get fit?  Do you need to eat more healthily?  Do you need to take action about some health matters?  

Rom 12:1 urges us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God and 1 Cor 6:19-20 tells us that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and belongs to God, so we need to honour Him with it.  What is God saying to you about your body? 
 
You will see your expression.  What does this indicate?  What emotions are you experiencing?  What is causing you to have these emotions?  What is God showing you about your thought life and what needs to change there?  

In Rom 12:2 Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and in Phil 4:8 he tells us to think on things that are good and lovely and pure and admirable.  Our thought life dictates our emotions so we need to monitor what we think about.
 
You will see your surroundings.  What or who is around you?  What does it indicate about your life?  What needs to change there?  

Prov 12:26 advises us to choose our friends carefully so as not to be led astray and Luke 12:34 tells us that our treasures reveal our heart. I remember a television programme that went into well known people’s homes and we had to guess who lived there by the things that were in the house.  What would people surmise by looking around your home? 
 
We must spend time regularly looking into the full size spiritual mirror of the Word of God to see our complete true reflection and, most importantly, do something about what is revealed there!  

Thankfully, God has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us through the process and we have His strength to do it. Phil 4:13
 
What an awesome God we have!  Now, where is that mirror? ....... 

By Liz Mcmeekin of Burntwood church