11/19/2024
As a long time Christian, I have heard many sermons and lessons based on others seeing Christ in us. Each of these encouraged us to live more faithfully so that people who were around us would see Jesus in our behavior, and the things we did. One day it dawned on me that in order for that to happen, we needed to see Him in ourselves. Do we look in the mirror and see the transformation that our faith is having?
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV
When I was young in Christ, I would occasionally glance into the mirror in the morning and catch a glimmer of my faith; I would think back on something I had done the day before that touched my soul... a prayer, a kindness, or some piece of scripture that revealed its secret to me; then I would see a smile spread across my face.
Paintings begin that way too. An artist's first puts his paint on a palette and then begins the lovingly tedious job of mixing it and dabbing or spreading each carefully constructed color on the canvas. At first there isn't much to see, but as time passes his vision begins to take shape and the beauty that was in his mind is transferred from thought to reality.
So it is with God and the way He transfers the image of His son onto the canvas of our lives. A dab here and a swirl there until suddenly and incredibly there it is... Jesus; and He is looking back at us from the mirror, where our face has wonderfully taken on the brightness and radiance of His.
Reflecting Jesus requires more than an idea or inspiration... it requires paint and the hand of the artist; furthermore, it depends on the canvas taking the paint from the brush. It requires effort, and for our actions, to actually bringing life to the image that we have received.
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
James 1:23-25 ESV
Have you ever done something for someone and felt the warmth of that gift of yourself? Did you look the same the next morning when you saw your reflection in the mirror, or, was there something different... a smile, a radiance, and a desire to praise God for the blessing you received while serving another? That is how we are transformed. We are changed slowly, one stroke at a time, until one day we look at our reflection and realize that there is less of us there, and more of Christ looking back.
When we can find Jesus in the mirror, then others will see Him in us too. They might have caught flashes or glimpses of Him before, but now they can't separate Him from the man we have become. They experience Christ in our lives and are drawn to Him through us... just as we are drawn to the Father through the Son. We will recognize it when someone sees the change. Sometimes we will see a certain smile on their face as they look at us, or they might openly ask what we have done to ourselves. Occasionally someone who is struggling bitterly might say “look at him just sitting there with that Christian smile on his face.” Although they don’t mean this to be a compliment it is, and it is their cry for help coming to the surface… it’s an unfulfilled need arising in them that will eventually allow us to speak Jesus into their life.
“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."”
Prayer:
Thank you Father for the transformation in my life and faith. Thank you for your Son Jesus who shines from within me and for the radiant glow that you once gave Moses that now shines in me. Father, thank you for the work you perform in me each day. Let me see your hand in my life as you transform me into the righteous person that will one day reflect perfectly the image of your son. Let my actions and the works I do glorify you and lead me closer to the perfect walk of Jesus. Oh Father use me to radiate the image and life of your Son as I interact with others, and may that portrait of Him draw many to you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who takes the clay that once formed me as a man, a fallen man, and that you have used to reformed and shaped me into something righteous and beautiful that only your eyes could see was there inside me. Holy are you whose mercy, grace, joy, and goodness radiates from me, and gives me your peace in my life. In my reflection I see the wonder of your hand, and it stills me as I stare into the eyes of Christ in the mirror before me.
From each face you have shaped we see the holy glow of life everlasting, and the sweet calm and beauty of you who is in that life. Hear us as we pray Father, and use the fruit of your hand, our heart, and our spirit, which brings the joy of Jesus to us, and pleasure to you. Let every vessel that bears the image of your Son say:
“Amen”, and all of the heavenly host in unison sing…
“Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise be to God the Lord of all!”
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 ESV
Rich Forbes