As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.
Proverbs 27:19 (NKJV)
Today we look at the Word of God as a mirror. Proverbs 27:19 refers to water taking the place of a mirror. Could you remember, ‘The dog and the Bone’? Yes! We encounter mirrors on a daily basis from the time we awake until we’re ready to go to bed. Just like water, mirrors play useful roles in our lives. James 1: 23 – 24 refers directly to the Word as a mirror. It says, ‘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.’
Mirrors reflect the truth. When one looks one sees, ‘What is’. In the same way, when we look into the Word of God we can see what is wrong, in our hearts or our behaviour toward God. When you look into a mirror, you have an opportunity to fix what may be wrong, for example, with any outfit. In the same way, we have opportunities to fix the wrong things we observe in our lives. When we allow God to fix the wrong, we become doers of the Word and not only hearers. When we read and meditate on the Word of God or hear it, we must react and make the necessary changes to grow.
Self-examination of our lives must be a daily practice. We sin, in thoughts, words and deeds. Repentance is necessary and forgiveness is available. The Word of God is the perfect law of liberty that sets us free from all the chains that may seek to bind us and hinder our growth.
When we are set free, we must continue in the freedom that Christ paid for us at Calvary. We must remember that the condition of one’s heart reveals who one really is. We cannot hide. God is not like man. Man looks at the outside, God sees the heart. Look at the Man in the Mirror, tell him to change his ways.
Read: James 1:23-25; Psalm 119:34; 1 Samuel 16: 1-7
Bible Reading Guide: Proverbs 12:18-27; John 11:45-57; John 12:1-11; 1 Samuel 5; 1 Samuel 6; 1 Samuel 7
