Reflections
By Pastor Jim May
(This sermon was presented using projected pictures of people standing in front of different carnival mirrors that distorted their true appearance)
How we see ourselves will always determine how far we go in life, and how far we go with God. If we are going to be the person that God wants us to be then we must be able to have a clear vision of who we are and what needs to change. As I thought about it I realized that all of us are looking at life in different ways. We each see ourselves differently because we are seeing a reflection of who we think we are. But where are we getting that reflection from? The fact is that our opinions, our thinking and our character are determined by what reflection we see. The source of that reflection then, must be all important.
1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
None of us can see ourselves as clearly as we should, but there are some people who don’t see much at all. They aren’t looking into a good mirror so its impossible to see the character flaws and to see how much they need to change.
Some people look at themselves as though they were looking into a very tiny mirror. You can recognize these folks because they have such narrow minded views. In fact they are so narrow minded that they can look through a keyhole with both eyes at the same time. Their vision of who they really are is limited by their own prejudices and opinions. They can’t really get a full view of what they really are at all.
In order to use such a tiny mirror we have to move our face around a lot to see only those spots that concern us the most. It’s easy then to miss something that everyone else can see so easily. If there’s a blemish that we can’t see, then why bother to correct it? Let’s cover up only what we can see. Let’s make ourselves look as good as we can. After all, we are special people.
It isn’t that we can’t get a bigger or better mirror. It’s that we are completely convinced and satisfied that we are fine just like we are. There are some things in our lives that we are glad we can’t see. There are some things in our lives that we refuse to change and therefore we won’t look at those in the mirror. It’s those things that we refuse to change that become sin to us and will keep us from becoming the perfect image of Christ that we must be if we are going to make it into Heaven.
Some people look at their lives through mirrors that don’t tell the truth. If you have ever been into the house of mirrors at a fair or carnival you will know what I mean.
Some mirrors make you look like you are much taller than you really are. I have seen these folks in the church house from time to time. They have become much taller in their own eyes than they really are. They have placed themselves on a pedestal and tend to look down on everyone else as less than perfect.
Paul must have known some people in the early church who acted the same way. He said in Romans 12:3, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
On the opposite side of that point of view are those people who look into a warped mirror and see an image of themselves that is much shorter than it should be. People who use this mirror to see themselves often believe that they can never be anything great in the eyes of God. To them, every silver lining has a dark cloud. Their lack of faith is evident because they can never trust God or believe God for anything. They have listened to the voice of the devil whispering in their ear so much that now they can’t hear anything else but his lies. When the devil and his imps say, “You can’t do that”, or “you will never build that”, or “who do you think you are anyway”, or “that’s just a pipe dream”, they see themselves as failures and are paralyzed in fear.
We need to quit looking in that warped mirror and see ourselves the way that God sees us.
Genesis 1:27 says that, "… God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
Now if we are supposed to be in the image of God, how can we think that we are going to be a failure? I can’t see God failing.
There are still others of us who look into a warped mirror and see ourselves as much thinner than we really are. Satan has us believing that we could never be a spiritual giant. All we think about is our lack of faith and every little fault and failure we have.
Now thinking about faults and failures isn’t a bad thing, unless it consumes you and makes you believe that you could never overcome them. That’s not the picture that Jesus wants you to see of yourself.
Much of the time, we get this point of view because we are not “eating” enough spiritual food. We feed on the junk of the TV and read novels and books that have no meat to them at all and our spirit becomes malnourished and weak. We need to look into the perfect mirror of God’s Word and gain some spiritual power from the Words written there.
Still others look at themselves in a mirror that makes them appear much bigger than they are. Who are these folks? They are what I refer to in the church as the “fat cats”. They try to put forth an image of being one of a few elite Christians who have a “hot line” right to the Father in Heaven. They claim to have such great faith that they can literally move mountains, though no one has ever seen them do it.
These folks talk a great talk, but their walk doesn’t back up their mouth. Their commitment to attending church and being in the House of God is often very lacking. Of course they cover this by saying that they spend time in prayer at home and they watch the TV evangelists, or listen to the radio preachers.
My friend, don’t tell me you’re a spiritual giant when I only see your face in the House of the Lord once every few months. You can claim to have all the goods, but that doesn’t make it so.
I believe that there are going to be a lot of so called, “spiritual giants” left behind when Jesus comes.
Some people see themselves as though they were looking into a convex, or “fish eye” mirror.
These folks have a very small view of their stand in the Lord. Everything and everybody else around them takes precedence, and they see themselves as nothing more than a pinpoint of nothing in a great big world. They feel so insignificant and unnecessary. Their favorite verses in the whole Bible are found in Job 7:17-18, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?"
Then there are people who see themselves in a Concave mirror.
What they focus in on is what’s in the center of the mirror and that’s self. Self is magnified many times over what it should be. Don’t ask them to fast and pray because they just can’t do without food, not ever for one meal.
Everything about them is to gratify the desires of self. If I want to sleep in, I allow my self to stay in bed. If I don’t feel good, I let my self talk me into staying home. If I want to go hunting, fishing, play sports or something else rather than be in the House of God when the services are going on, then all I’m doing is gratifying the desires of self to my own way.
The only thing that they can really focus on is what is in the center. Everything else is not important. Those things and people who are close enough to be of aid in satisfying self are seen a little, but the rest of the world is simply lost in the mix. Their prayer is often, “God bless me, my four and no more.”
Then comes some people who really have a warped view of themselves. The mirror glass that they see is so out of whack until it is nearly ridiculous, yet Satan has them so deceived that they will believe a great lie.
In one view, they can’t line up with any other religious belief. They take that scripture that says in Philippians 2:12, "… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling", and make a whole doctrine out of it.
Their own private interpretation means that no one is right but them. No other church is preaching the truth but their own. No other denomination will go to Heaven but theirs. No one else can measure up to their own warped, but perfect standards, and so no one else can be right but them.
Some of these warped views are so off track from the real thing that they think opposite from the rest of the church world. You can see this easily in the world when you see the criminals having more rights than the victim.
But God knew that His own people would see things that way too. He spoke about it through the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 5:20, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"
These dear folks always have the opposite point of view than everyone else in the church. If something good happens, they can only thing of the bad that may come out of it. If something bad happens, they can only thing of the good that may come out of it. It’s not because they have faith. It’s because they just have a warped point of view.
And last but not least are those folks who look into the mirror and see themselves with the “Cone head Effect.
I’ve noticed these around the church from time to time as well. In fact, I wonder if all of us don’t tend to act like a Cone Head every once in a while.
What’s a Cone Head? A Cone Head is someone who “knows it all”. They have been everywhere, done everything, and no one can top the adventures that they have had. They are so smart that they are stupid. Their heads are stuck so far in the clouds that they have no interest in the day-to-day affairs because it’s beneath them. They like to supervise and then claim that they did something. Most of the time they are more of a hindrance than a help.
Looking into the mirrors around us, we tend to always look at ourselves in a positive light. We want only to see the good things that we are. I know this happens all the time.
I’ve never been to a funeral where the deceased person was lost. Looking into that casket all we want to see is the mirror of the good things that they could have been. We don’t want to face the reality that they weren’t nearly as good as we make them out to be.
A mother and son were sitting on the front row during the funeral. As the minister began to give the eulogy he told of how faithful the deceased man had been, to his church, his family and his God. He described the man as a hard worker, a loving father and a devoted husband. At this point the mother nudged the son and said, “Billy, go see if that’s really your dad in the casket, or are we in the wrong place?”
After someone has left this life, they could have had the most prejudicial attitude in the world against other faiths, other races and anyone who disagreed with them knew it instantly. They might have had an absolute lack of faith, and had their eyes set only on the things of this world. All of their life was spent seeking after wealth, after having their own way, doing what they wanted to. But when they lie in that casket, all we can think of is how perfect they were, because we keep looking into the wrong mirror.
No one wants to think of someone they knew being in the flames of hell but the fact is that most of them are. It doesn’t matter what other people see in your life, it’s what God see that really matters. That’s why God, and only God, can be your righteous judge because he not only knows the outside reflection, but he sees right into your very heart. Nothing is hid from Him.
We need to look into a perfect mirror to see the real person that we are. The only perfect mirror is the Word of God found in the Holy Bible. It isn’t found in the Book of Mormon. It isn’t found in the Koran. It isn’t found in Zen Buddism. It isn’t found anywhere else except the Bible. The Word of God is perfect because it is the picture of a perfect God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is His image that we all must conform to. How can we be conformed into His image if we aren’t comparing ourselves to Him alone?
2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
The last thing I want to talk to about is that person who beholds his image in water. I call it “The Ripple effect”
There are a lot of “ wishy-washy Christians”, those who are constantly vacillating (switching) between serving the Lord and living for the devil. Our image is constantly changing and no one knows what we really are, including ourselves. But just as the ripple grow larger and farther apart as time passes, so will our true image level out in the seas of life and down the road it will be revealed in a clearer fashion just who and what we are. You better pray that you aren’t too far from God when the ripples finally fade. Let them fade into God’s kingdom, and not be conformed to the rest of the waves in the ocean of the world.
James tells us how to look in the mirror in James 1:23-25, "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. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
We must compare ourselves only to Jesus Christ. We must look into that perfect law of liberty found in the Bible and make sure that we have a well-balanced and perfect view of who we are in Jesus. Only a perfect mirror can give you a perfect image. And when you compare yourself with that perfect image it won’t be hard to see the flaws in yourself.
Don’t worry if you are terribly off of what you should be. The power of the Holy Ghost, the Blood of Jesus Christ and the washing of the Word in your heart and life, have the power to transform you into the image of Jesus. Make sure that you are looking into the right glass today.
