At the beginning of the fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a scroll reveals that the wicked queen daily consults her magic mirror asking, "Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" Ominously, the scroll reveals that as long as the mirror names the queen, Snow White is safe.
The queen lives in a
large stone castle that sits high atop a mountain. Her magic mirror hangs in a
dungeon-like room with large pillars and ornate carvings. As the queen
approaches the mirror to get her daily dose of affirmation, she summons the
specter that has always and faithfully identified her as "the fairest one
of all." An inferno billows within the mirror and gives way to a ghostly
face. The beautiful but wicked queen inquires, "Magic mirror on the wall,
who's the fairest one of all?"
The mirror responds,
"Vain is your beauty, majesty. But, oh, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot
hide her gentle grace. Alas, she is fairer than thee."
The queen's face
contorts and her eyes burn with anger. How could a maid, dressed only in rags,
compare to the regal beauty of the queen? "Reveal her name!" demands
the queen. The mirror tells the queen the name of Snow White. "A lash for
her!" hisses the queen.
Though she is a beautiful
queen surrounded by royalty, her envy of Snow White consumes her. From that
moment forward the queen seeks to destroy Snow White. The queen commands an
aide to take Snow White into the woods and kill her, returning only with her
heart. When this doesn't work, the queen attempts to kill Snow White by giving
her a poison apple.
Ultimately, the queen perishes while fleeing the scene of the crime. She is destroyed by envy.
Ultimately, the queen perishes while fleeing the scene of the crime. She is destroyed by envy.
MIRRORS
Every morning when I get up I go through all my
morning rituals; a cup of coffee, a shower and shave, and maybe a bowl of
cereal or a slice of toast. And before I set foot out of the house I've looked
at my mirror once or twice to make sure everything looks okay (or, at least, as
well as can be expected!)
Some spend a lot longer time in front of the mirror than others, combing their hair until it’s just right; putting on make-up, checking for blemishes, shaving, and so on. Others take a quick look, pat down any unruly hair and walk on.
The mirror always tells the truth.
If you’ve sprouted a few more gray hairs – it won’t be shy about telling you. If you have bags under your eyes – it will come right out and show them to you in their full glory. If you have put on weight – it won’t beat around the bush by telling you how great you look. It comes right out with it and shows you in glorious detail the extra bulges.
The mirror doesn’t spare our feelings. It doesn’t gloss over our defects and tell us we’re better looking than we really are. In fact, the closer we get to the mirror, the more it reveals what we’re really like.
So why do we have mirrors in our homes, if they’re only going to depress us? As unpleasant as it may be to confront our own faces first thing in the morning, we know that if we don’t take a look at ourselves, and make some major adjustments, the rest of the world is going to see that morning face!
A billionaire and a pauper could stand before a mirror and both would get equal treatment…the truth!
So we figure, it’s better to "face" the truth, and make the changes that are necessary to become presentable.
IN THE LETTER FROM PASTOR JAMES, GOD’S WORD IS COMPARED TO A MIRROR
In chapter 1: 22-25 we read…
Do not merely listen
to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 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. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives
freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing
it—he will be blessed in what he does.
The mirror [God’s Word] always speaks the truth. It tells us
clearly who God is, what he expects from us, and what he does for us.
A great thing about a mirror is the mirror doesn’t talk.
If it could, we might hear comments such as:
“Not
having a good hair day, are you?”
“Put on a few pounds?”
“That color doesn’t look good on you.”
“Do you realize that outfit makes you look fat?”
“Put on a few pounds?”
“That color doesn’t look good on you.”
“Do you realize that outfit makes you look fat?”
I
tend to stand up straight, pull back my shoulders and tighten my stomach when
I’m standing in front of the mirror. If I notice something about my clothes
that I don’t like, I have the opportunity then to change my clothes or to put
on something that covers up anything with which I’m not pleased. For me, looking
in a full-length mirror at the side view is the one that hurts.
God’s
mirror, His Word exposes things like the absence of personal Bible study,
prayer, worship and basking in the presence of the living Lord. It reveals the
little time, if any, we spend on our relationship with our Savior. In the pages
of God’s Word He reveals His heart as to how He wants us to live and to act;
and He clearly calls us out when our actions differ from those that please Him.
A key reason why many believers aren’t motivated to spend time in the Bible as they know they should is because it’s not comfortable seeing their flaws or their spiritual flabbiness laid out before them. Just as we may avoid looking at ourselves too closely in a physical mirror because we don’t like what we see, we may decide to avoid God’s mirror all together.
Yes, if we look at His word often and long enough, we will get a glimpse of what we look like in God’s spiritual mirror, and that’s not always a pretty sight! Seeing ourselves as God sees us is not only uncomfortable and convicting, it also cries out for change. Thus, if we’re unwilling to make changes or to take any action to improve our spiritual state, our spiritual life will continue a downward spiral, while we work hard to keep up the outward pretense of being spiritually mature.
Listen
to Hebrews 4:12…
For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart.
Most preachers/teachers will be able to relate to what I’m
about to say. Over the years, I’ve had people to accuse me of preaching right
to them, or at them. They feel that I’ve gotten too personal with the
truth and were made uncomfortable. Isn’t that amazing… to be accused as a man,
of doing what only God can do? God’s Word is a mirror!
Just as a glimpse in a natural mirror may spur us to eat better or
exercise to get rid of the bulges we don’t like, hopefully seeing ourselves in
God’s spiritual mirror will motivate us to “be doers of the Word, and not
hearers only.” When we hear the Word, or read it for ourselves and don’t
personalize its message, and we walk away unchanged and unaffected, we are…
“like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his
way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”
Again, God's Word is merciless when it comes to telling the truth. It reflects back to us the blemishes in our lives, the warts of failure, ugliness of sin and its effect on our relationships with others, and how out of shape we are in doing what God wants us to do.
What would be the point of looking in the mirror, seeing that I had food on my face, and then just walking away? The looking was a waste of time.
If a man ate breakfast and got food on his face you’d expect him to take a napkin and clean his face. James says that when we read the Bible and don’t apply it to our lives, it’s just like seeing food on our face and leaving it there. The reading and looking were pointless exercises because we didn’t act on what we’ve seen and read.
When we read the Bible, or hear a sermon, we’re supposed to see ourselves in it. All too often we’ll hear a sermon and say to ourselves, “I wish so and so could hear this! They need it!" Often in a church service, the folk on the front rows have shovels and they shovel the truth they hear back to the good folk on the back seats who’re sitting there under open umbrellas. Consequently nobody gets anything.
One of the most important reasons we read study and understand the Scriptures is to see things that have gone wrong. God's Word speaks to us plainly and with no beating around the bush. It tells us where we have gone wrong and what needs to be fixed. Without this kind of reflection we don’t know what’s wrong and are easily led to think that everything is okay. It would be like the person who has food in his face all day because he ignored what the mirror told him.
James writes, "Get rid of every filthy habit and all wicked conduct. Submit to God and accept the word that he plants in your hearts, which is able to save you. Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice."
We don’t like to hear that sort of thing. We don’t like to think of ourselves as having "filthy habits" or "wicked conduct." We have a much better idea of what we’re like and "filthy habits" aren’t part of our image of ourselves.
But we have them.
They may be habits that are quite acceptable to the rest of the world but in God’s mind they’re filthy habits.
We may just like to gossip but the Scriptures condemn gossip as a filthy habit. (James 3:1-12)
We may be in the habit of criticizing and judging others in an unkind and unloving way (James
We may stereotype people and judge them on the basis of their skin color or their nationality or their political persuasion or on whom their parents were - just as if we had the right to do so (James 2:1-4). That’s prejudice – and it’s a filthy habit.
We may be in the habit of letting our anger get out of hand and stinging others with harsh and judgmental words. That’s a filthy habit. (Matt 5:21-25).
Moreover, we’re very good at justifying why we are caught up in such and such a bad habit. And so we make little effort to change things. For example, “it isn’t my fault that I get angry – other people drive me to it.”
Habits take a lot of work to break. The first step in breaking them is recognizing we’re doing it.
James says, "You are guilty of sin and the Law condemns you as a lawbreaker. Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all" (James 2:9,10).
It’s not good enough to listen to God's Word, shake your head in agreement and then forget it. You and I need to listen and put it into practice. Let the Word that you hear have an impact on your life. Let it show you that all is not right with your relationship with God and the way you are treating other people is not acceptable to God.
To be able to do this, we must accept that the Bible is God's Word to us. We need to place ourselves under the authority of the scriptures and recognize that this is God speaking and that it’s His message to each one of us. God wants us to be happy and live peaceful lives and he has things to say about how this is achieved.
The Bible isn’t a whole lot of dos and don’ts aimed at making life dull and boring. God wants us to live the lives that He created us for. When we realize this, we are all the more willing to listen and put into practice what we’re being told.
If we take our car to a mechanic and he says that the funny noise coming from the motor is serious and some urgent repairs need to be made, we would be foolish to ignore his advice and drive away. That’s just asking for trouble. Our Maker has some important advice for each of us and likewise it’s foolish to ignore it and continue on our merry way as if he hadn’t said anything to us.
GOOD NEWS!
For Christians the mirror of God's Word has something else to say to us. When we ask, "Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all?" God's Word comes back with the answer, "You’re the fairest of them all!"
But how can that be when the biblical mirror has just reflected how much wrong there is in our lives? How can that be when we see so many bad habits in our lives? We have done our best but still God's mirror keeps on showing us that our conduct is wrong.
God's mirror tells us that we are "the fairest of them all" because of Jesus our lord. Because of what he’s done for us in his death and resurrection we can look into the mirror and see ourselves without spot or blemish. Jesus has made us clean. On a wooden cross outside
So on the one hand, the mirror of God's Word tells us we're sinners, imperfect, and that we indulge in filthy habits and wicked conduct. But on the other hand, the mirror of God's Word tells us that through Jesus we're forgiven, made clean and that we are indeed, "the fairest of them all". We’re sinners who continually step outside of God's plan for us and yet his love doesn’t stop. Jesus even went to the extreme of dying for us and welcoming us back into his family.
In 2 Corinthians 5: 21 we read;
For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
So there we go. The same Word that reveals the sin in our life also provides the way for cleansing. Listen to Psalm 119:9;
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto according to thy Word.-Psalm 119:9
We must not just listen to the Word of God; we must do what it says.
Receive it. Read it. Review it. Remember it. Do it, responding to it as the Holy Spirit leads you. Pastor James concludes by saying,
If you do what it (God's Word) says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it (James
Blessings,
John
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