Mirrors are everywhere. We typically take them for granted and only use them when we’re getting ready in the morning or driving. However, I’d like to discuss a special mirror today, a true mirror.

James 1: 22-25 states “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;  for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

Mirrors don’t do any good if we only give them a passing glance. Just like being a Christian on Sundays only does not a godly person make, studying your bible just as rarely does not a mature Christian make.

Hebrews 5: 12-14 warns us of exactly that.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.  But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Christians who have been Christians for some time should be the ones teaching others. They should be the ones who are able to grasp the depth of the bible and the context behind what was written.

If we are not all growing and improving then we atrophy to those incapable of eating that solid food, if we’ve even grown that far. A Christian’s growth should be constant and, short of death, never ending.

Now most mirrors only work if they’re maintained. It’d be easy to adjust the angle of the mirror, crack it, or discolor it to hide the truth that’s shown, however God’s word as a true mirror can not in any way be adjusted. Man may try, but they will find out the truth in the end.

That’s just as much a danger to them as it is a blessing to us, as we find in James 1: 16-18

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

For those who try to change God’s word, they will fail as God does not change. For those who heed the true mirror and learn about our spiritual condition by regularly looking into it, we are benefited with an eternal benefit for those who are steadfast until death.

They should realize that the point of a mirror is to show ourselves to ourselves, the deep introspective truth that you can’t find anywhere else. We should regularly do a deep examination into ourselves to find out if we have any marks or scars that need healing.

We can, as others, do a quick examination into the obvious and want those healed, but if that is our focus, we’ll never be given the real lasting change that God’s word promises us, and as Paul states in 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

I’ll end with one more warning. While we have access to the true mirror to examine our own lives, God is the One who maintains the mirror and He is the one that will use said mirror to determine our spiritual fate in the end.

If there is anything lacking in our spiritual lives, the mirror will find it out, as Hebrews 4: 12-13 reads

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

The true mirror will remain in perfect condition until Jesus returns so while we may fool ourselves we can not and will not fool God, and while we may try to cover our own sins to others, as the verse states, our spiritual state is wide open and easily read.

So I end with a few questions. If God looked at you with this true mirror today, what will He find? Would you be ashamed of what he sees?