Human beings have been using mirrors for around 8000 years. The earliest known manmade mirror was made from polished obsidian (volcanic glass) around 6000-6200 BCE in Turkey. Before mirrors, one could only see one’s reflection in the still waters of rivers or ponds. The function of mirrors is to reflect light so that we can see our image. We use them to groom ourselves, to check our appearance before we step out, and to see any changes in our bodies. In this article, I will use this metaphor to show you how the word of God acts as a mirror to us.
Every human being longs to be known and loved. How do you get to know someone? It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Time and conversation help you get to know them. If someone wants to know you and they do not spend any time talking to you, they would barely know you. So would you like to know your heart and to understand how your heart functions? You have to spend time gazing at the mirror that defines the human heart. That’s the word of God.
The best way to know yourself and other people’s hearts is to look at the mirror that God holds before you, His word.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Knowing the One Who Holds the Mirror
But wait, we want to trust whoever is holding the mirror, right? To make sure the mirror is accurate and functioning well. Again, to know the One holding the mirror is to know Him through the same mirror because that is where He has revealed Himself. As you get to know the God who wrote the Bible, then you will know yourself. Jen Wilkin, in her book Women of the Word, writes: “The Bible does tell us who we are and what we should do, but it does so through the lens of who God is. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of self always go hand in hand. In fact, there can be no true knowledge of self apart from the knowledge of God. He is the only reliable reference point.” That’s revolutionary because the world tells us to know ourselves, we ought to look within and focus on self-love and self-care, but that leads only to self-deception.
You can’t know how merciful you are, for instance, by turning inward; you know by looking at a God who is perfectly merciful, and when you look at yourself, you fall short. Therefore, you recognise that to be like Him is to be united to His Son through salvation, and through His Spirit, He moulds mercy and other excellent qualities into your heart.
“But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
What You Will See in the Mirror
We’ve established that to know ourselves is first and foremost to look at God’s mirror so that we may know Him, so that He can tell us about ourselves. So what are you to expect? What will you see in the mirror? You will see a glorious and holy God, the God who is all things perfect in every way and a God who shows you that your heart needs redemption through Christ. If you are in Christ, you will see a heart that is daily being conformed to the image of God. You will see that God is committed to your sanctification and He is faithful to conform you to be like Christ.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).
Be encouraged to take up that mirror and look at it, stare at it, linger there, lean in and gaze all the more. I pray that we will not be like the man whom James describes: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” (James 1:23-24).
As you gaze upon that mirror, be grieved at the things that you see in your heart that don’t please God, but don’t be driven to despair. Gaze again and see what Christ has done with those sins (Colossians 2:13-14). Gaze and see His work in your heart. Lean in, see the fruit of the Spirit in your life, and burst into doxology. God is at work and has promised to stay the course until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6).
Gaze and see what God is doing in other people’s hearts, be humbled that you aren’t better than anyone else, because the ground is level at the foot of the cross (Psalm 130:3-4). Gaze and see those who reject God and move towards them and tell them what the God who holds up the mirror before you has done, and tell them the good news of this glorious gospel.
Marvel at the One Who Holds the Mirror
Look at the mirror of God’s Word and marvel, more so at the One who holds it and has been so merciful not to leave you in your sinful state and is inviting you to taste and see His goodness in the gospel (Psalm 34:8).
He doesn’t hold the mirror before to condemn us or deceive us but to draw us close to Himself. He holds it for us to see a true and lasting fountain where our souls are to be quenched of thirst and find everlasting joy in Him as He gets all the glory.
May our hearts be transformed and our minds renewed as we dive into all the counsel of God, and may our response be worship and obedience to the One who has loved us with an everlasting love.
