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Beyond the Mirror
When
you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Jesus
teaches us to look beyond the person we see in the mirror. He calls on us to
pray a simple prayer each day that awakens our hearts to our dependence upon
and love for the incredible God of the universe. He reminds us that to honor
God, we must be redemptively involved in the lives of others. In other words,
we must love God with all that we are and live with our Father's character and
compassion in relationship to others. Jesus gave us two guiding principles and
then gave us ways to hang on to these two principles in our lives - our love
for God and our love for His children.
by Phil
Ware
Two Minute Meditations
When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Ouch! What I see is the 10-20-30 syndrome: a guy who is
10 years older than I imagined myself to be, 20 lbs. heavier than I thought
myself to be, and I have 30 fewer hair follicles than I had last week.
Most of us find what we lack, what we are not.
We're trained to see our blemishes, flaws, and
imperfections.
We're sensitive to our sags, bags, and wrinkles.
Advertisers, social pressures, and our own vanity make us
vulnerable to all sorts of products and sales pitches.
We're too much, too little, or not enough like whatever
mythical standard we have set for ourselves.
On an even more serious note, we feel much the same
spiritually.
We focus on what we are not or what we have done or what
we neglected to do.
We forget we are people that God shaped with care,
intention, and purpose from the moment of conception (Psalm
139:13-16).
We lose sight of the truth that God is at work in us (Philippians
2:13).
We discount the power of being God's special new creation
(2
Corinthians 5:17), the Father's artistic handiwork made to do
something great for the Kingdom (Ephesians 2:10).
How do we keep from glaring at what we are not in the
mirror?
How do we keep our spiritual failures and shortcomings
from swamping our confidence in Christ?
How do we settle ourselves in the great will of God and
find our space to live, thrive, and bring our Savior glory?
Jesus gave us two guiding principles and then gave us
ways to hang on to these two principles in our lives.
Jesus teaches us to look beyond the person we see in the
mirror.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together.
One
of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus
replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew
22:34-40 TNIV).
Then Jesus taught us to pray in a way that connected
these two great principles into our daily routines:
“[Jesus
said] This, then, is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our
debtors.
And lead us not into
temptation,
but deliver us from the evil
one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” - (Matthew
6:9-12).
Jesus teaches us to look beyond the person we see in the
mirror.
He calls on us to pray a simple prayer each day that
awakens our hearts to our dependence upon and love for the incredible God of
the universe.
He reminds us, however, that to honor God, we must be
redemptively involved in the lives of others.
In other words, we must love God with all that we are and
live with our Father's character and compassion in relationship to others.
Now it is so easy for us to reduce the life of Jesus to
slogans and formulas that sound clever and catchy.
But, if we listen closely, we hear these two themes over
and over.
From Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, notice
these two:
“But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well” - (Matthew 6:33).
“So in
everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up
the Law and the Prophets” - (Matthew 7:12).
The apostle Paul takes up both of these two principles
when he writes:
"And
we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him [loving
God], who have been called according to his purpose" [sharing God's love
with others] - (Romans 8:28).
Then a little later in the same letter, he wrote:
“Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is true worship. Do not
conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his
good, pleasing and perfect will” - (Romans
12:1-2).
“Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one
another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” - (Romans
12:9-10).
Everything around us is going to scream for us to define
ourselves by externals - by the flaws we see of ourselves in the mirror.
The truth is, however, that image is always going to
disappoint us unless we have our identities established in the two guiding
truths of God: our love for God and our love for His children.
After studying the following make LIFE Group and
discussion questions, I'd love to get some of your responses on my blog (http://www.heartlight.org/thephilfiles).
Compare the pigment of each person's skin in your group —
this is politically incorrect because we are afraid to talk about race and
ethnicity; but as believers, we celebrate it!
The more diversity in your group, the better.
It's also a reminder that it really isn't a white or
black or brown race, but we are "different shades of God's creative
grace" (Galatians 3:26-4:4; Psalm 139:13-16).
If there are not many shades in your group, why not?
If there are, what do you think that is saying about your
group?
Why is it so hard for us to talk about this subject in
today's world?
Why don't we celebrate diversity more?
Why did God place you in the situation (skin color,
family of origin, family of raising, church family, experiences) that he did?
If we understand that God made us and gave us the
experiences in our lives to have us be a blessing to others (Genesis
12:1-3; 1 Peter 13:9; Romans 8:28-29), how does that change how
you view yourself?
Several passages in Scripture remind us of the importance
of both celebrating the "skin" we're born in and also challenging us
to move beyond the limitations of our own "unique shade of God's creative
grace."
What do you think these passages teach us about how to
both use our skin and our need to move beyond our skin?
John 1:14-18 (cf. John 3:16-17; John
20:21-22)
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:38-39
Revelation 7:9-11
How do all these passages help us speak to the nature of
our real family and ethnicity and what does this say about our purpose?
Now answer that question again after reading 1 Peter
2:9-10 & Galatians 3:26-29
Phil
Ware
has authored 11 years of daily devotionals, including VerseoftheDay.com, read
by 500,000 people a day. He works with churches in transition with Interim Ministry
Partners and for the past 21+ years, he has been editor and president of
HEARTLIGHT Magazine, author of VerseoftheDay.com, God's Holy Fire (on the Holy
Spirit), and aYearwithJesus.com. Phil has also authored four books, daily
devotionals on each of the four gospels. (Visit the Author's Website)
Heartlight Provides Positive
Resources for Daily Christian Living.
https://www.heartlight.org/articles/200903/20090326_beyondmirror.html
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