Brian Hedges, Sr. Pastor
Have you ever noticed how time changes your reflection? Well, it’s not really time, or the mirror, it’s you. As humans, we change as we move through time. Mirrors are not static images, they reveal whatever they reflect. As we look in a mirror over time, we note that changes take place. The changes revealed in the mirror may be good or bad, minor or major, but they are revealed. The changes are visible only for a moment, and it is for the beholder to determine how they process and proceed with what they see.
James encouraged reflection in God’s word. Checking in, evaluating and measuring the change in our life day to day, so we can do what it takes to be conformed to the image of Christ. James doesn’t speak of a casual gaze -- like the one you may grab off the store-front glass or a body of water -- but that crisp, clear look into the mirror that causes you to process what you see.
The mirror is uncomfortable because it doesn’t lie. When I look into the mirror, I see things I like and things I dislike, things that are good and things that are bad. I see the process of age, overeating, lack of exercise and other things that could be rather depressing. Conversely, I see some encouraging things in the mirror that tell me to go forward in faith. The fact that I’m upright, alive, still breathing and going forward to fight another day is a truth the mirror reveals each day.
Looking in the mirror is not as much about what you see, but what you will do about what you see. The same holds true for looking into God’s word. If we look into the pages of scripture and it doesn’t influence our decisions, we are not really taking note of what the mirror of God’s word is telling us.
One of the greatest lessons my mirror tells me is that I’m on a clock. That would not change if I was at my ideal weight, fitness level and had thicker, bushier locks. The reality of diet, exercise and age may be revealed in the mirror but what we do about them still resides in our heart.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James 1:22-25
Looking into the mirror of God’s word is not about gazing at our old nature, but our new nature in Christ. Unlike the physical mirror, we are not looking for physical improvements as much as spiritual improvement. Do we look more like Christ or less? This process can ebb and flow. Some days, week and years are better than others. When we look into the perfect law of liberty as our mirror, we should hope to see reflected what John the Baptist said near the end of his ministry, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) John understood the progression of one’s life and ministry should be more about Christ and less about us. By God’s grace, this is what we see in the mirror of God’s word when we spend time in it daily.
God shows Himself to us in His word
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It is important to look into God’s word daily for what God is showing us about himself each day. This causes us to change on the inside and behave differently outwardly. Recently, I was looking into God’s word, going through the familiar parable of the sower in the fourth chapter of the book of Mark, when God caused me to reflect on the condition of my heart.
Everything in the passage was familiar, I had looked at it before, but God wanted me to apply it to my heart afresh. This would be like going to the doctor to get a heart scan and a blood test to see if there is any plaque blockages. What kind of heart do I have? That is not a question to be asked once a decade or even once a week, but daily and moment to moment as the issues of life flow from the heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23) The amazing thing about the mirror of God’s word is it reveals things only God can see and only the things you will allow him to change. Only you know what the Spirit of God’s word reveals.
In my case, I was evaluating if I had allowed the cares of this life, the thorns and such, to choke out what God was wanting to do in my life and ministry. What the word of God reveals is what we need to reflect, remember and make steps to achieve, avoid or change. If all goes well, when we walk away from the mirror of God’s word, we will say what Jesus said to the Father in Heaven, “….nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42) James makes it abundantly clear that reflection is not complete until it goes beyond knowing to doing.
In 2020, what would God have us to know from his word, and what would he tell us to do? Will we execute and do those things we are to do, or will we come to the same mirror next year and receive the same message? Doing God’s will is our responsibility. The mirror will not make us obey, it just reveals who and what we need to obey. The word of God, after all, is the will of God. It is above all and will stand as a clear indicator of our willingness to act on it’s promises.
Reflect and Plan
Reflection is also an important part of planning for the future. As we enter a new decade, it’s important to evaluate spiritual growth on a macro level. Even though I plan the cycles of growth at HBF around the cycles of seven, I’ve found that God has a pattern of growth in my life that can only be easily recognized by each decade. Starting in the ‘80s, yes the 1980’s for you “Generation Z” (22-and-under) folks, I have seen a pattern that helps me prepare for the decade to come if the Lord tarries.
Each decade provides new loss, new love, new lessons and new life. Last year at this time I wrote on starting and finishing well. As I look back, I can’t thank God enough for saving me early in my teens and giving me the grace to get off to a great start. In addition to new life in Christ God blessed me with my wife Amy and a great church to grow up as a disciple.
Now I pastor a great church that is making disciples, planting churches and by God’s grace, sending missionaries. That doesn’t include what I am praying He does in the life of my family through His word, His church and His Spirit. I wish I had time to write in detail of how God has led us through the four new things each decade and how God has provided faithfully and miraculously through it all. That is the stuff of another article. The point is that reflecting on God’s word daily and decade by decade is what has sustained and blessed us through new loss, new love, new lessons and incredible new life that has resulted as the years and decades unfold.
I have a ministry plan that takes me into my early 80’s (my age, not the decade), though I’m not guaranteed to see tomorrow. Facing a new year or a new decade is not about planning for all the events leading to your promotion to Heaven, but fulfilling what God has planned for your life from the moment you trusted him as Savior. Each day we reflect on the word of God and alter our thoughts and actions to match God’s, we are preparing for the day God calls us home.
Our opportunity in time to obey God and glorify him with adamic skin will soon be over, regardless of your age. The day we step out of time into eternity it will be like being pulled from a game or conflict before we are finished. There is so much to do! How can we accomplish all he eternal purposes in the short amount of time we have?
Discipleship is the key. Investing in others as we invest in God’s word is the secret sauce. Will we have done our part? I’ve lived long enough to know each decade will provide new loss, new love, new lessons and new life through Christ as we follow him faithfully. In the next decade I can count on all those things once more. But at length, it will be eternity that reflects the magnificent opportunities we are seizing or squandering moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year and decade by decade.
If you are not right with God, you need to stop everything in your life today and get right with Him. Time is of the essence! God’s word promises that “…whosoever calleth upon his name shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) If you are not saved, you can be by believing the gospel. Believe that Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross, shedding his blood for your sin and the sin of the world to rise again three days later just as the scripture says. If you believe that and sincerely call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
Perhaps you are a Christian who is born again, but you know you need to renew our commitment to the things you already know and seek to learn more and be faithful with what God has called us to. A renewed commitment to sanctification is the call of those who are saved. Salvation nor sanctification are attainable if we are not filled with faith.
The scripture says, “…faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Believe what God says and do it. Eternity will measure our reflecting on God’s word and allowing it to have freedom to change us in time. May we look more and more like what we see reflected in the mirror of God’s word as the Day of Jesus Christ approaches.