I wonder why it is, that so many Christians can look
straight into a mirror and see only good things? This phenomenon amazes me. I am not talking about being forgiven or
washed pure in the blood of Christ, I am talking about staring straight into an
unbiased thing like a mirror – and then selectively seeing only the things you
want to see rather than the things that are truly there. Evil’s marketing campaign seems to have so
affected our vision, that we are conditioned to see only certain things about
ourselves, and ignore so much of the obvious.
Myself for example – when I look into the mirror to check my
appearance before leaving the house – I give myself the once over to see if I
am presentable. Is my hair clean and
combed? Teeth look good, no junk in
them? Face clean and reasonably
shaved? All I need now is a breath check
and I am good to go. Having approved of
my appearance, or adjusted any unproved exceptions, I then consider myself a
reasonably attractive man. I tend to
ignore the gray hair that has come with age; the blemishes all over my skin
from old moles, or freckles; the additional weight gain that nobody likes; and
as far as my teeth go, there is hardly more than 3 or 4 bottom teeth in a
straight line my whole life long. It
appears my long impacted wisdom teeth are literally pushing the others out of
the way over the years. Sound great
don’t I? J
All these obvious flaws are right there in my mirror, but I
am conditioned to simply over look them.
In the spiritual context however this problem can become an order of
magnitude worse. Not only can I overlook
my flaws, I can deny they exist, yet reveal their existence in the same
breath. My quintessential Christian
friend told me literally in the same 2 sentences, that she was not judging
anyone and loved everyone and that any TRUE follower of Christ MUST call
abortion by its only name – murder. It
is not a question about whether you think abortion is right or wrong – her
statement is, in point of fact, a judgment, not about the topic, but about the
people who may not agree with her. Her
statement says they cannot be TRUE followers of Christ if they do not share her
opinion as she states it. And yet, she
is blind to her own dogmatic condemnations.
This is the underlying problem shared by all Christianity;
that we often seem to forget our need.
Our attention gets taken up on a few key items we focus on, and we
subsequently condition ourselves to ignore and accept an entire series of
defects, character flaws, condemnations of our neighbors, etc.. We defend ourselves from the slightest
accusation that all may not be perfect in our own characters, and try to throw
blame elsewhere, or do comparative righteousness with other less
fortunate’s. Anything to avoid wiping
our eyes when we look into our mirror’s and see what may have been there all
the time.
Of course at the root of all this difficulty is our oldest
enemy – self. We like to think of
ourselves in a favorable light, with reasonable intellectual and social
abilities. We like this. It pleases us. We need it.
And so we create it. We do what
we have been trained to do, conditioned to do, to focus on the things that make
us happy. It is all about self. Self has long been the king of our domains,
and as king, we fight the hardest against accusations of selfishness. We are quick to counter accusations of
selfishness with a well prepared, well recited list of good deeds we have
“sacrificed” over our whole lives long.
We counter accusations of selfishness by trying to claim martyrdom over
our “good” deeds.
Wrong. Any “good” deeds
you may have ever done in your life were either truly good because they came
from a true surrender to the will of God, and He performed them through
you. For which you seek no recognition,
or reward. Or your list of
accomplishments was done specifically so that you could combat feelings or
accusations of selfishness if ever hurled at you. There is no good defense against this
accusation – because in point of fact – it is always true. The very nature of evil is a focus on self,
and we are all guilty of it.
But, with our new found discovery of how to surrender to God
daily and remove the sin from our lives – we now have a counterattack to our
current condition. But like the largely
visible sins we surrender to God, we must first begin by seeing, by waking up
to the level of evil we are plagued by.
Our prayer of surrender grows to ask the Lord to open our eyes so that
we can begin to see the mirror more clearly, and recognize our need more
acutely. Our intent is not to just layer
guilt on guilt, it is to expose our need, then address it – slowly replacing
imperfection with perfection.
Mirrors have no interest in our pride, or in our
condemnation. They merely reflect the
image that stands in front of them. They
are dispassionate, reliable resources for stating truth. The emotional variables in the equation are
us. We are the ones who derive
intentions, motivations, and innuendo from what we see in ourselves. Not every accusation hurled at us is correct,
but so many are. What we need to do, is
to stop acting on the defensive, and start becoming more factual in our self
analysis. Defensive responses are human
nature when there is no hope of change, or getting better. But we have hope. We have hope because of Salvation. For Christ died to save us from our sins here
and now.
And when in doubt that the mirror you are using to examine
your character is worthwhile, try using the only one as accurate as the one in
your bathroom. Try using Jesus Christ,
and life He lived as your example of what to aspire to. Like the mirror in your bathroom, Christ has
no interest in stroking your pride, or condemning your spirit. He wishes only to reveal what you must see,
and then to cleanse the impurity. Don’t
be discouraged because like me there is much work to do. Do not falter at the size of the task. One after another, truth can be layered upon
truth, and surrender can lead to His victory after His victory that makes you a
better person.
A good beginning is humility. We sometimes forget this when we look at what
God has achieved for us, the extent that He has given us, and reformed our
behaviors. We get to feeling good about
our lessening pain, and start to forget how we are accomplishing this only
through surrender. Old habits of
comparative righteousness creep up, and the greatest of all evils attempts to
raise its ugly head in our lives – pride.
Proud of our lessening sins, proud of the relationship we have with God,
proud of our witnessing, proud of our results.
Quick folks, look back at the mirror of Christ, and see how
FAR you have yet to go. You have no
reason for pride, and great reason for humility. For pride is the pathway of self, and
embracing it destroys the progress you would otherwise make. Instead, greet each other in humility, remember
ALL are struggling on the pathway to perfection. All of us need to encourage each other, not
tear each other down, or try to compare the lack of sins with each other. We are not struggling for relative position
within Christ’s kingdom, we are struggling to be there in peace and harmony.
I believe the quintessential Christian is the most humble
person you ever meet. It is their great
LACK of pride that defines them this way, not their own descriptions of
themselves. The words of others
enumerate their sacrifices, as they can remember none. The praise of others defines their characters
as they can see only their need of a savior.
This is the Christian I aspire to be.
I hope to face my mirror, learn the truth, and surrender to the only one
who can teach it to me forever …
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