Reflection…I work standing in front of a mirror. I’m so accustomed to it, I seldom see my own image there. But it IS there…
There are reflections of ourselves in a lot of places if we look for them. We are reflected in our children. Simply the face of a child often reflects who the parent is, the image being so similar. Often, we see ourselves reflected in the behavior of our children ….sometimes not a pretty reflection.
Our actions and words are reflections. (I am convinced that we act on what we REALLY believe, not on what we SAY we believe.) Words are important….but actions speak much louder. ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead…..show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.’ (James 2:26, 18)
Sometimes the mirror is true, sometimes it’s distorted. Sometimes I just wish for the excuse of a distorted mirror, giving me an excuse for the reflection I see. It’s not pretty sometimes, often in fact…but I’ve become more able to look at the ugliness I see reflected because only when I acknowledge it can it be changed.
We are prone to not really look…to only look from a distance, or look quickly and turn away, ignoring what we see, even pretending we look entirely different. ‘Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.’ (James 1:23,24 NIV) ‘But suppose you take a good look….keep looking at it…don’t forget…but act…’ (James 1:25 NIrV)
I can change a lot standing in front of my mirror. I’ll be changing my own reflection in front of a mirror in a few minutes as I ready for the day ahead. I can change your reflection to a degree…with shears, a brush and a blow dryer. But only the Lord can remove the real ugly…the ugly that goes all the way to the spirit.
Examine yourselves..’ (2Cor. 13:5) I need to prayerfully look at my reflection. I don’t want to have ‘eyes that could not see..’(Rom. 11:8)
My desire is to reflect Jesus Christ. His image is perfect…and He shows me what I really look like. I am thankful He doesn’t leave me to my own skill to make improvements, for my image is beyond flawed, beyond my capacity to improve.
‘Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.’ (James 1:4) ‘I have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the Creator’(Col.3:10)
It is a work in progress.
