Mirrors: What Do You See?
“But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”
James 1:22-24
As I thought about this passage, I began to realize all of us look at life in slightly different ways. We have different ways of approaching challenges and celebrations. We all have different priorities. This is one of the ways in which we are all unique. We each see ourselves differently because we are seeing a reflection of who we think we are.
What image do you see when you look in a mirror? Who is that person in the reflection? Do you stop long enough to let yourself see? Or is the challenge for you the kind of mirror into which you are looking? Is it a very tiny mirror? You know the mirror about which I write. All women have one in their purse that is so small you can barely see anything but your own eyeball looking back. You may correct a small fault, but you cannot see the whole picture. Maybe the very things from which we hide or refuse to change are not in view. On the other hand, is the mirror into which you look the one you first look into in the morning when you likely look a mess? And what do we see in the house of mirrors at a fair? It really gives us a distorted view of ourselves.
Mirrors are very honest things and they do not compromise. They show us every wrinkle and every gray hair. Maybe we need to quit looking in the warped mirror and try to see ourselves the way God sees us–the real image, the real person. Maybe we need to stop with God’s word long enough to let what we see there—and what it reveals about our own hearts—sink in. When we read and study the Bible, do we go away and put into practice what we have learned? Or do we run from it because we don’t want to look inwards?
Are you in the habit of being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only?
