Man In The Mirror

"The Man in the Mirror"

Psalms 51:1-10; James 1:23-24

There comes a time in each and every one of our lives that we need to take a look at where we are and what we do. We need to examine ourselves and ask the question, “Am I doing my best to serve the Lord?” A lot of us when asking this question see things in ourselves that we wish we could change. We have feelings, thoughts, problems and attitudes that we know we need to change.

Everybody here should continue to take a look at themselves and realize that there is something in your life that is not the way you want it to be. We need to make a conscience effort to make a change in the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we think and the way we act. We need to make a change for the better. We need to take on the attitude that it is time for a new me. Time for me to give my all to God.

Brothers and sisters, I want you to know this morning it is time that we make a change. It is time that we make a change for the betterment of us all. If we are going to make things better for any of us, any type of change it must begin within us. It is said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We need to make sure that we are not the weakest link.

So many times we are able to see the tiny faults that others have, we see the mote in their eye, and focus on them so much that we miss our own giant faults or the beams in our own eyes. The bible says in Matthew 7:4-5, “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye”.

Brothers and sisters to put it plain and simple, we must as the pop artist Michael Jackson so rightly put it in one of his songs, start with "the Man in the Mirror". We must begin with "the Man in the Mirror", the one that we see everyday, and ask him to change his ways.

Just think, brothers and sisters, if every one of us changed something about ourselves that we know is not a good trait, what a wonderful place this would be. If every one of us started with "the Man in the Mirror", we wouldn’t have time to find fault in one another. We wouldn’t have time to find fault in another because we will be to busy taking care of our own.

The thing about starting with "the Man in the Mirror" is that once we see what’s wrong we must understand that a change needs to be made. When we look in a mirror it reflects back a true image of what and who we are. Each morning as we prepare for work or what ever we are to do that day we generally don’t leave without looking in the mirror. The mirror enables us to see if there is anything out of place and gives us a chance to correct the problem.

Our text in James 1:23-24 tells us, "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is 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". In other words you see your true reflection but forget what and who you are.

In our text this morning, Brother David knew that he had a problem. He knew that he needed to get fixed up. David knew that it took God to make the changes necessary for him to be what he once was. David had seen the error of his ways and had lost the joy that he once enjoyed being in the presence of the Lord. David had taken a close look at "the Man in the Mirror".

At this point in his life, David realized that something needed to change. Brothers and sisters all of us have come to a point in our lives that we realized we just couldn’t go on the way we had been before. As we look at our text this morning we see in verse one, David appeals at once to the mercy of God, even before he mentions his sins. Brothers and sisters, this is what we need to do.

God is a merciful God and is willing to forgive us. We need to ask God for mercy, before we even state what we have done, we need to ask for His mercy and forgiveness. David then asks God to wash him. Brothers and sisters a lot of us need a good washing. Not just a quick shower or bath, but a complete and thorough scrubbing. In order for us to change we need to be washed thoroughly.