James 1:23 (b) he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.......as I was meditating on these verses I was reminded of the story of Snow White and the seven drawfs. In the story the queen always stood in front of the mirror and asked "who is the fairest of them all?" When the mirror responded favorably she was pleased however she was very angry when the mirror replied that now the fairest of all is not the queen but Snow White instead of her. I am imagining that she would have even broken the mirror when it gave a negative comment. That is why she plotted to kill Snow White as a result of her jealousy.
Each one of us has a 'mirror' in our hands as Christians. When we begin to examine ourselves in the 'mirror' of God's word what are our feelings? Like the Queen, are we indulged in vanity, do we feel love for others, are we jealous of someone else's prosperity, do we like what we see?
1) Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me. The definition of 'god' according to me is anyone or anything that takes all our attention, time and effort. Our work can be our god, a friend, television, internet, a habit anything that diverts attention from Jesus is a god. Anything that interferes in our relationship with Jesus is a god! Lets examine our lives and make a checklist of who are our gods? Is Jesus the primary focus of our life or is He living in the guest room of our heart. Do we talk to Him occasionally or continuously?
2) Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
My sister sometimes calls my name and when I turn to her does not say anything. It is very irritating. "Why do you draw my attention when you don't have anything to say" I ask her and she does not bother replying. If someone keeps calling your name without really wanting to talk to you how would you feel? Imagine calling the King of kings and Lord of lords, whose name if above all, getting His attention and not intending to have any conversation with Him. It is quite an insult. How do we address the name of our earthly father? Do we cry their name out for no reason, try taking your Dad's name without meaning to talk to him and his reaction will tell you that we should never dishonor the name of God. Saying "Jesus" is not fashionable. If we don't mean it, we should not say it. Remember we are accountable for every word that we speak as written in Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. We will be accountable for every word that we speak without meaning it.
3) Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother.
What is our perception of our parents? Do we respect them and want to introduce them to our friends or are we embarrassed of them? Dr. Dobson wrote in one of his books that our feelings for our natural father on earth is a reflection of our feelings for the heavenly Father as well. In other words whatever is our relationship with our father on earth it is most likely to be the same with the Father in heaven. Take a moment to look at the mirror of God's Word and ask, "what is my relationship with God Almighty?"
We can continue examining ourselves through several scriptures of the Bible. For e.g. in Psalm 1:1-6 Blessed is the man who:
does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the path of sinners
nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
A scoffer is one who is mocking laughter, mimicry, or comments intended to make fun of somebody in a contemptuous way. Let us examine whether we are intentionally of unintentionally scoffing?
As we examine ourselves we all know our spiritual condition. Peter's message pricked the hearts of the people and they became desperate to 'REPENT'. When we repent our character is groomed and we begin to look nice, just like after a hair cut, trimming of a beard or getting our eye brows shaped.
When we see our unkept hair in the mirror it is a natural thing that we fix it sometime with our hands, other times with a comb. My Uncle was complaining about his dry lips and asked my mother if she could give him a solution. They were young and were not so familiar with cosmetics. She advised him that if he applies lipstick it will be smooth. Taking her advise my Uncle applied lipstick at night with the intention to remove it in the morning. However he forgot and went to get the milk with the lipstick on. He came home very angry with my mother. However she replied that she had asked him to remove it in the morning. If only he had looked in the mirror he would have avoided the embarrassment. We need to continue examining ourselves in the 'mirror' of God's word. And remember examining is for examinations and examinations result in promotion to the next level. If we fail then we remain in the same class. I have just mentioned a few scriptures but I encourage you to keep reading and make a checklist of all the verses that teach us character traits.
My beloved, the Bible has been given to us so that our character will be developed just the way God wanted it to be. Let us use it as a grooming tool to look beautiful whenever we read it. Ask God to fix the uneven eyes, unshaped lips, trim the hair and re-shape us daily in His own image. Amen.
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