You know, in the last 2 to 3 years, I noticed two pretty important ways the world has changed.
Now frankly, I don’t know whether it’s because of global warming or the lack of gun control or the Obama administration. All I know is that these two issues, at least to me, are far more important
than what’s happening in Syria or the upcoming season of “The Haves and the Have Nots.”
I’m talking about, first, how, for reasons I don’t understand, my clothes have started to shrink, just hanging in the closet. And I know its happening because they all feel tighter
than they used too. Now, that’s a problem, and second, I’ve noticed that mirrors just don’t reflect the truth anymore. I mean, my Lord, I shave every morning, and I’ve done that for the last 37 years. But now, the face I see in the mirror, I’m telling you, it’s not mine!!! No sir!!! It’s a guy who has a fat face, who’s hair has thinned, and the youthful look as disappeared.
You see, what I’m talking about? That’s not me, right? I’m telling you, instead of throwing all kinds of money at climate change and alternative sources of energy, man, we should be trying to figure out the mystery of shrinking pants and faulty mirrors. Well of course, I’m not an idiot. I recognize that this really isn’t any mystery at all. The size of my clothes aren’t changing; I know it’s the size of my waistline. And there’s nothing wrong or different with the mirror in my downstairs basement bathroom.
It’s just that I’m not doing cartwheels over the face that’s looking back at me. No, my reflection isn’t the way it was,
something that I guess comes from not dying younger, and all things considered, that’s a whole lot worse than some too tight pants and forehead cresses. Still Beloved, I can’t honestly say that the face in the mirror makes me particularly happy, especially when I think about the whole picture, including some of the stuff that lurks beneath the surface.
You see Beloved,when what I see is less than good, that’s normally how I feel. But you know, I don’t think I’m alone in that. I mean, wouldn’t y’all agree that when we see ourselves in a negative way, it sure effects how we feel, and I’m talking about how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about our lives, even how we might feel about our faith and relationship with God? In fact, I think that’s probably true of everybody, Christian or not; when our vision is negative, so are our feelings. And I’ll tell you, it’s not all that hard to see some things that are less than pleasing
when we stare into the mirror and observe all the flaws that are reflected back. I mean,even if we can say that we earned every line and every wrinkle and every grey hair, seeing them reflected back to us, well, they’re all reminders that we’re not spring chickens anymore and that ain’t great. And that’s just the surface.
Beloved, what if we take a hard look at what’s underneath, you know, those character flaws we’d prefer to keep out of sight. You know what I’m talking about, the envy and jealousy we direct toward people whom we think got the breaks and we didn’t, or the anger and bitterness we hold towards folks who’ve hurt us in the past, or the disrespect, disapproval, belittling, and mocking we have for all those whom we believe don’t measure up.
And what if we spend a little time with all that stuff that God has seen us do in private, you know, the times we’ve done what was easy and popular instead of what was right or when we’ve helped ourselves rather than someone in need or when we’ve committed that secret sin which no one knows but for which we can’t forgive ourselves.
I’m telling you Beloved, it’s not hard to see things reflected back from that mirror, stuff that can cause us to cringe,
you know, things that make us feel tired and that make us feel shame and that make us feel alone.
You see, this is what I was talking about when I said that how we see ourselves can and well, it does affect how we feel. And if what we see is negative, so will be our feelings. And I’ll tell you, because this seems to be true for all of us, I believe this particular passage from Paul’s first letter to Timothy is really important to us all, and I’ll tell you why. In these verses, Paul not only tells us how he felt but also what he was able to see to get there. And you know Beloved, if we’re able to catch that same vision, you know, to see that same face in the mirror, I think it’ll shape our feelings also. I mean, I don’t know about you all, but I’d sure like to have the same kind of feeling Paul had when he wrote this to hisyoung protégé: Paul said“I am thankful to the one who strengthened me, Christ Jesus, our Lord...”
You see, Paul didn’t feel tired. He didn’t feel shame. And he certainly didn’t feel alone. Instead he felt thankful. He felt appreciative.
Beloved,I’m telling you, he felt grateful to the one who made him strong. As he’ll write in his next letter to Timothy, Paul writes:“But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.”
Beloved,Paul was thankful; that’s how he felt, and I can tell you, I’d like some of what Paul had myself; what about you? I mean, imagine being thankful regardless of the physical circumstances around us, even within us. Image being appreciative even when life seems to have dealt us a losing hand and we’re sure the other people at the table have a couple of aces up their sleeves and nobody seems to care. I mean, just think about it, imagine feeling grateful when we look up toward God, even though we know, we know in the privacy of our hearts that God has every reason to feel let down by us, and I can personalize that to let down by me.
Beloved, I’ve got to tell you, that’s the way I want to feel. That’s the way I want to live. And you know, I think that’s possible when we’re able to see ourselves as Paul saw himself. You see, Paul’s ability to be thankful really had nothing to do with what a great guy he was, you know, how he had always been all sweet and kind and spiritual. No sir!!! In fact, for Paul, his past life was anything but thanks-inspiring. Using his own words, he said that he’d been“...a blasphemer and persecutor and insolent, [and that he] ...acted in ignorance and unbelief.”
Now, to me, that’s pretty harsh, But to be truthfully, I’d describe myself on my worse days harsher in many areas than Paul.I performed and operated in a manner that was not pleasing to God.But I thank God for His Grace and mercy!!! He saved me a true sinner… Beloved, Paul wasn’t thankful that God had made him “a little lower than the angels.” Instead, his thanks came from what had happened to him and what he’d become. Beloved, this world system is crazy!!! When a sinner is sinning, People talk about him or her terrible!!! But when they stop the things that people were chopping them up about,and accepts God’s grace and mercy that has built them a new character one that provides them with a new positive outlook on life,a morally correct path to walk on, those same hypocritical people who emasculated and destabilized them in the beginning, are the same people that are still emasculating and destabilizing them. This time they come with an added injection, they try to inject the believers character, with their subverted actions by dislocating the believer’s morally correct personality.
Beloved, beware of these people they’re insincere, two-faced, deceitful, phony-fake.They are the ones who are of the devil dressed in Christian clothing!!!!-Beloved - Beware!!! You could be their next target. Beloved, in spite of Paul’s messed up behavior, the Lord and creator of the universe considered him worthy of trust. I mean, in spite of the fact that he acted like a jerk toward the people around him and even God Himself, Paul was shown mercy.
And in spite of the fact that both his head and his heart were like marble, (Paul said) “...the grace of our Lord increased to overflowing, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” You see, Paul himself proved that the promises of God were sure. He demonstrated that when he said: “...the word is trustworthy and its worthy of all acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ of whom I myself am first.”
Beloved, that’s what had happened to him. Paul realized that he was loved by God, but not because of Paul; it was all because of God. And because of that, because of that love, because of that mercy, because of that grace, God appointed him to a special kind of service. He’d be the one through whom God would communicate His grace and mercy and love. As a matter of fact Beloved, because he was the world’s greatest sinner, but was still shown undeserved and unconditional mercy, he’d serve to serve as an example to others. In other words, if God could show mercy to Paul, as bad as he was, then God can show mercy to anybody. You see, that’s now how Paul saw himself: as a sinner who’d received mercy so that he could demonstrate to the world the nature of God
and offer his thanks Paul writes: “...to the king of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory into the ages upon ages, amen.”
Beloved I tell you, the same thing can apply to us. Regardless of how we look, regardless of those thoughts for which we might be ashamed regardless of those secret sins that we might be able to hide from one another
but not from God, regardless of all that garbage, we can still feel thankful, thankful not because
we’re better than others but rather because God has already shown us the same mercy he showed to Paul, a mercy that we didn’t deserve, in fact, a mercy that we can’t deserve, but one that came with the grace that literally poured over us like water. And because of that mercy, we too have become instruments of God grace, models of his love, examples of just how fantastic God is, that He can save for eternity the likes of me. Amen.
I’m telling you friends, when that’s how we see ourselves, I don’t think we’ll able to be anything but thankful.
Beloved, of course, I know pants don’t really shrink hanging in the closet. And sadly, there’s really nothing distorted
about what I see when I shave. That’s just who I am. But, in light of what we read from this letter by Paul, I’m more than just a reflection, and I’ll tell you, so are you. You see, we’re all sinners, and it doesn’t really matter if mine are better or worse than yours. In the sight of God, they’re all pretty bad. We’re sinners, but that’s not all. We’re sinners
who’ve been shown mercy. We’re sinners over whom grace has been poured. We’re sinners who are loved by God and who has been given the opportunity to show that love to others. And that’s really the reflection we get back,
when we see our face in the mirror. Beloved, we all visit our face in the mirror some more than others.
But the next time you look at your reflection staring back you be real with yourself and ask yourself: Am I who God wants me to be? I am doing what God desires? or am I allowing the crowd to make choices for me,or Have I allowed egotism, jealousy, arrogance and ignorance become the person in the mirror.
