Frank Friedman
WHO IS YOUR MIRROR? That is a very important question. Mirrors are something we look in, to remind ourselves who we are. They help us understand what is wrong that we need to fix and what is right about us as well.
When God designed us, He made us in His image. He established that He was to be our mirror. Anytime we looked at Him, we would see that we ourselves were made in His image, and immediately know how significant, valued, honored and cherished we really are. Made in His image, we were more than OK!
But then, Adam rebelled. He bought the lie from the enemy that he could become as god. He became his own mirror. He determined his own value, honor, and significance independent of God and from his own perspective. Most people, when they look in a mirror, do so to see the defects and fix those defects before they go out into the public arena. This is how most people function as their own mirror. They look in the mirror, see all the defects, and find themselves functioning with no small amount of self-hatred and disdain.
We say things like, “Oh, you’re so stupid. You’re so fat! You are so ugly! How could anyone love you!” This is not how we were designed to live in this world, but it is the sad by product of what happened when we chose to have ourselves as our mirror instead of God.
Then, there is the other side of the equation. There are a small percentage of people who look in their own mirror and love what they see. They are consumed with their own significance, honor, and value in their own eyes. They say things like, “You are incredible! You are so gifted! Other people should like you! In fact, other people should want to be you!” These people have a whole other problem called pride, conceit, and arrogance. Again, it is a problem that arises from looking at their own mirror, instead of having God as their mirror.
That seems like a big enough problem already, but it gets worse. Adam, is not the only one who ate from the tree. Eve ate too. In this context, Eve is representative of all the other people in the world who are as god. When we look at them as our mirror, we give them the authority to determine our value, honor, and significance. They call us to behavior that they deem right for us. Usually, that behavior we are being called to is what they want us to do and be, so they can use us, and take advantage of us for their own selfish gain. They offer an acceptance with a hook. They will accept us “if” we do what they want us to do. With them as our mirror, we end up functioning as puppets, and they manipulate the strings of our lives to make us perform for them.
This is not fair! It is nor fair for us, because no human being was ever designed to have that kind of authority and power over us. That role was reserved for God Himself. It is also not fair to them, because when we look to them as our mirror, we place them into a role they were not designed for. No human being knows how to use that kind of authority and power, and they will misuse it and end up abusing us.
We need to get rid of our own mirror, stop letting others be our mirror, and re-establish God alone as the true mirror of our lives. We do that by receiving the finished work of Christ on our behalf. In His cross, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit, He makes us brand new creations. In doing so, He re-establishes our relationship with Him as our only true source of LIFE. In Christ, God is now our mirror. Anytime we question who we are, if we have any value, if there is any purpose to our lives, all we have to do is look to Him. When we do so, He mirrors back to us, that we bear His image. We have the righteousness of Christ, and we are more than honored, valued, significant and cherished. This means, that we no longer have to look to ourselves, or to other people to gain those things from them.
Jesus has set us free from performing for others for an identity. He has set us free from ourselves as well, for now, we have the best identity ever! As II Corinthians 3:5-6 tells us, “In ourselves there is nothing adequate, capable, right, but in Christ, He has made us adequate, capable, and right!” This is glory, and we must lay hold of it by faith.
There is a glorious insight on how this occurs in the New Testament with a man named Levi, or Matthew. We know him as the tax collector. So did others know him in that way. When Luke wrote his Gospel, he said these words, “And Jesus saw a TAX COLLECTOR named Levi” (Luke 5:27). When Mark wrote his Gospel, he put it this way, “And Jesus saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the TAX COLLECTOR’S BOOTH” (Mark 2:14.) Both of these writers defined Matthew (Levi) as they had seen him. They mirrored to him who he was – a TAX COLLECTOR!
But years later, when Matthew, who had encountered and followed Jesus as His Lord, Savior, and Life, wrote his own Gospel, this is how Matthew described the event. “And Jesus saw a MAN, sitting at the tax collector’s booth.” (Matthew 9:9.) Did you see it? They saw a tax collector. But Matthew, had his true mirror restored. He no longer saw himself as a tax collector, nor did he allow others to see him as a tax collector. He now saw himself, the way God designed him to function. With God as his mirror, Matthew says, “Jesus saw a MAN!”
Dear Ones, please do not look any longer in the mirror of your own making. You are not a good determiner of who you truly are. You are prone to define yourself by your own standards, instead of the standard of God, who calls you His child, that He created and loves.
Dear Ones, please do not look to others as your mirror ever again. They do not know how to value you either. Look to God alone as your mirror, and forever cut the strings of allowing them to be your puppeteer ever again.
Dear Ones, God is your mirror. And He will always be faithful, when you look to Him, to remind you that He loves you, cares for you. He has permanently established you as a new creation of His, made in the image of the righteousness of His own Son. Because of the finished work of Jesus, you are forever His son or daughter, valued, treasured, cherished and loved. Always look to Him, and let Him mirror back to you, who you really are, in Christ!
Wow! And again, I say, WOW!
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