How am I using my time in the Word? As a time to soak up head knowledge so I can sound smart at life group? Or am I letting it reveal the truth and transform my daily life?
When I get up in the morning and get ready to go out to face the world, I look in the mirror. I want to know that I am presenting myself to the world properly - as my best self. I don’t want people to look at me and think I never brush my hair or take a shower. I would hate for my first impression given to be of an unkempt, uncared-for person; that’s not who I am! The mirror shows me what I look like and what needs to be shifted and put into place to look like myself. When I look, I see hairs out of place and in need of a good brushing, teeth that need to be cleaned, clothes to be changed - and even a grumpy, sleepy face that needs to wake up and smile.
The Bible is a spiritual mirror. It will reveal my out-my of-place worship, the joy that could use a bit of cleaning up, and the attitudes that need changing, the sins I have let sit for too long. Just like the mirror in my bathroom, I need to look at myself in the reflection of scripture before I present myself to the world.
The things I see in the mirror that need changing don’t tell me who I am; the mirror reveals the things that are not reflecting my true identity. It gives me insight into how I need to wash off the dirt of the day so that my face can shine through. Brushing my hair or changing my clothes doesn’t change who I am; it reveals the truth under the yuck of daily toil.
Jesus always sees me as who I am; he can see right through the dirt and grime. He loves me whether I am all cleaned up or not. We see this truth in Romans 5, verses 8-10, which says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!”
I am already justified - declared right before God. Sanctification is the daily grooming process we go through to “live worthy of the calling,” as we are told to do in Eph. 4:1. We look in the mirror of the Word of God to see what areas we need to groom, what areas need growth and what needs to be gotten rid of.
The word of God is not just there to point out flaws but also to reflect back to us who we really are. We find so much encouragement and many reminders of our identity in Christ. These are the things we want to walk away remembering. We clean up what needs cleaning while in front of the mirror, which then leaves us with our true selves as the last thing we see before we go off into our day. This is what James 1:23 -25 is talking about when it says, “... if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.”
As we walk away from the mirror, we want to remember “what kind of woman” we are, and this will help us as we become “doers of the word.” Women who are transformed by the Word. Confident in who God says we are and no longer swayed by the lies we have been told or have previously believed.
The Bible is the mirror that reminds us we are Daughters of the King, with authority and power, equipped by our Father, the King, to carry out the tasks he has given us. This is our beauty, our worth, our enoughness - it has all been bestowed by the King, and we have only to go and do. Walking in the truth of who we are, using the resources we have been given. And in doing this, we will be “blessed in what we do.”
Let the Bible be the Mirror that reminds you who you are and gives you the confidence and power to walk boldly into the calling you have been given.