Have You Looked into the Mirror Lately?

"But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25)

Who can forget the timeless fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, a story in which a wicked queen stood before her mirror daily and asked: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Now it is important for you to know that our family has its own version of this fairy tale, beloved. One unnamed person (he knows who he is!) has been known in times past to stand before a mirror and declare that he could not wait unto tomorrow to see what he was going to look like if he was already as good-looking as he was at that moment. Sorry, kids! You won't find this story listed among your usual fairy tales!

There is a tremendous need today, believe it or not, for each one of us as Christians to "look into the mirror" continually. That "mirror," according to the apostle James, is the mirror of God's inerrant and infallible Word. He calls it here "the perfect law, the law of liberty." You see, beloved, only the divine Word of God has the ability to cause you and me to see ourselves as we really are. Look into the world's mirror, for example, and you will see whatever it is that Satan wants you to be at any given moment. Or look into the mirror of "self" and you will see yourself as you want to think that you really are. The problem with such mirrors, unfortunately, is that they are all distorted!

The mirror of God's "perfect law," however, is different. It will show you as you really are through the eyes of the One who counts most, God Himself. He will show you what you look like to Him, the One who searches the hearts of all men. And why is it so important to God that you and I see ourselves as He sees us? Simply because as we yield ourselves to what His Word shows us, we become the people that He wants us to be. When we become "doers" of the Word, not only are we tremendously blessed, but others will see us as God sees us, too. Our lives will begin to have an impact on others!

Oh, and about that other fairy tale, the one with the wicked queen? She never did become "the fairest in the land," except perhaps in her own mind. And neither did that unnamed family member that I mentioned earlier, but he sure has provided his family with years of great entertainment. And for that we love him more than he knows.

Have you looked into the mirror lately, beloved? Why not give God's Word a try? You'll be amazed not only at what you may learn about yourself, but you will be amazed at what God can make of you as you give yourself to what you see there! Happy gazing!

Ron