When I was younger, I went with my uncle and aunt to a
church camp. We stayed in cabins and had morning and evening services like most
camps. I was getting ready for service and didn’t have a mirror to see my hair
or outfit, so I went to find one in my aunt’s cabin. When I looked into the
mirror, I looked like I had put on twenty pounds! I told my aunt, “I think your
mirror is distorted. I look huge!”
All of a sudden she jumps up laughing and hugs me. I asked
her what was going on, and she said she hadn’t realized the mirror was
distorted. She had been on a crash diet since she looked in the mirror because
she believed that she had gained weight. I told her she looked fine, and hadn’t
gained weight like she thought. We both laughed and went to find another mirror
that was clear.
It made me think, though, how often we do this in life. It
seems like there are a lot of mirrors telling us who we are. We see models that
send the message we’re not pretty enough or skinny enough. We see
advertisements saying we need this product, that pair of shoes, that car, to
really be who we want to be. Sometimes people let us believe we’re nothing
without them in a relationship. Maybe our boss makes us think we’d be nothing
without this job. And maybe we’re even telling ourselves we’re worthless.
We often don’t even realize that the mirrors we’re looking
into are distorted. Maybe we try to change even who we are to look good in
someone else’s distorted mirror. But, I’ve got good news. There is a mirror we
can go to that’s not distorted.
God knows who we are better than we do, and He tells us who
we are in His Word. In Genesis 1:27, the bible says “In the image of God
created he him, male and female created He them.” You were created in the image
of God. You have incredible value!
The bible also says in Romans 10:15, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel
of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Did you know that to
God even your feet are beautiful?
In Matthew 10:29-31, the bible
says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
There are so many other verses in
the bible as well that tell us who we are as God sees us. He alone knows how
valuable we are, and he loves us unconditionally. We must look in God’s mirror,
the Word, and remember who we are in Christ.
We must also remember that even if
we look fine in our own mirrors, God’s mirror will show the flaws that we can’t
even see. Wouldn’t it be horrible to go out in public with your breakfast on
your face or broccoli in your teeth because you couldn’t see yourself well in
your mirror? But yet we go out in public with attitudes that are even more
repulsive than food on our faces because we didn’t ask the Holy Spirit to check
us before we left. Before we ever leave the house, we must remember to look in
God’s mirror, allowing the Holy Spirit to clean us up so we can reflect Christ
in all we do.
