It happens to Americans every day of their lives. Few of us like the way we look the first time we see ourselves each day in the mirror, so it is not long before we begin making changes to our appearance. Usually, before we leave the house, we take a final look in the mirror hoping that we look presentable and acceptable to others.
James describes the Bible as a mirror. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was” (Jas. 1:23-24). It is remarkable how God uses the simplest aspects of our lives to illustrate truth. To look into His mirror, the Bible, and to see our spiritual needs and do nothing about them just does not make sense. It is even more foolish than that person who looks into a regular mirror, sees something which destroys his appearance and then walks away forgetting what the mirror showed him.
Paul describes the Bible as a mirror with the power to change you. “But we all, with unveiled face, 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 Cor. 3:18). These words are much like the words from James, but Paul sees that person as spending time looking into the mirror, but not seeing just self. He looks into the mirror and sees Jesus in His radiant glory. The present tense of “being transformed” indicates an ongoing process. He does not just see the Lord once, and then he is immediately and completely changed. He sees the Lord. He spends time gazing at Him. The glory of the Lord becomes his standard, and he is being changed into the very image of the Christ.
David, while not using the imagery of a mirror, describes the same action. “Blessed is the man . . . (who) delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psa. 1:1-2). Have you ever considered what made David’s heart be like the heart of God? He turned to the law of God and meditated on it day and night, and that transformed his heart. Looking into God’s mirror will change the heart of all men.
Consider some “mirror rules” for those seeking to change their appearance. We must come to our mirror, His word, with an open, sincere heart and see His image clearly. We must come with a determination to change the flaws we see in ourselves in that mirror. We must spend time seeing the glory of the One in the mirror, mediate on what we see and then change our lives to become like that One. We need to think often about this, knowing that it takes time to become just like Him.