A True Reflection

I've had a sticky smudge across my bedroom mirror for a few weeks now and, in my laziness, I have just ignored it.

 

I kept forgetting it as it's only obvious when I'm sitting on my bed - I haven't really noticed it when I'm standing up at the mirror.

 

However, when I was sitting down, I couldn't really see myself properly.  I could still make myself out, but my image was blurred.  It wasn't a true reflection.

 

In the same way, my view of myself in a spiritual or emotional way is often blurred by 'smudges'.  Smudges caused by circumstances, or failures, or flaws, or doubts, or what others think of me, or even what I think others think of me.

 

They distort my image of myself.

 

And they are not a true reflection of how God sees me.

 

And sometimes they distort my image of God and His goodness and His faithfulness too.

 

Two nights ago as I sat on my bed I noticed the smudge on my mirror again, and something shifted this time; something roused me from my lazy apathy.  I got the polish and duster and vigorously cleaned the whole mirror.

 

Until I could see myself clearly.

 

In the same way, sometimes I need to give my spiritual 'mirror' a good clean to get rid of the dirt and grime that stops me from seeing myself the way that God does.

 

The Bible is clear about how precious and loved we are in God's sight, in spite of our faults and failings.  Paul writes,

"God chose you to be the holy people he loves."

[Colossians 3:12 NLT]

 

And Zephaniah describes God's love and delight in us -

 

          "He will take delight in you with gladness.
          With his love, he will calm all your fears.
          He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

 

          [Zephaniah 3:17 NLT]

 

 

This is how I want to see myself.  This is what I want to see and know and believe when I look in the mirror.  I want to see myself the way God does.  But sometimes, in order to do that, we need to take a good long look at the mirror and give it a good clean first.

 

 

 

Reflections

Isn't it strange how we never really know what we look like, apart from in photos?

We always see the opposite of what everyone else sees when we look in a mirror; we are used to seeing ourselves reflected.

For example, I am used to my parting being on one side of my head and it looks strange when I see myself in photographs and everything is reversed.  But it is even stranger still to know that that is what I look like to everyone else.

We never see what everyone else does.

It got me thinking about how often this is the case spiritually too: we often don't see ourselves the way others do either.  We overlook our gifts and talents and emphasise our flaws and failings.  So often we see our weaknesses looming over our personalities and eclipsing the good things God has given us.

Recently, we spent some time at Small Group sharing what we felt were each other's strengths and gifts and I think we were all completely surprised by some of the things that other people saw in us.

For me, people saw some things that I have always longed for them to see, but never believed they would.  Or some of the things that were said were the exact opposite of what I would have said about myself.  They were things that I struggle to believe about myself.

We often fixate on the negatives.

It felt strange to hear and read these words and to realise that this is how other people see me.  That when they look at me, this is what they see.

And it felt strange to be presented with this image of myself, which is so different from the one I am used to.  A bit like seeing what I really look like when I see myself in a photograph.

I want to spend less time indulging the negative thoughts that I have about myself which limit and restrict what I think God can achieve through me, and reflect instead on the real me, believing the positive things that God has said about me.

And the more time we spend in His presence and reading His Word, the more we will begin to reflect His glory.  And the more like our real selves we will become.

"But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord — who is the Spirit — makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."

[2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NLT emphasis mine]

This is the chorus from a song I love about how we see ourselves: 'You Are More' by Tenth Avenue North -

You are more than the choices that you've made,

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes,
You are more than the problems you create,
You've been remade.

'Cause this is not about what you've done,
But what's been done for you.
This is not about where you've been,
But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

That's what I want to see when I look at my reflection.