God's Mirror

Do we realize that in God we find infinite approval … Not in all that we may do, but in US.  We so often look at ourselves in the light of the world, or maybe by the world’s standards and distorted viewpoint.  We get down on ourselves; we sometimes even enslave ourselves to that vision of ourselves.  I know I am guilty of that, are you?  I think many times we are like the father of the boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9.  We have belief, but we need Jesus to help us with our “unbelief” (9:24).  We need to believe Jesus when he says, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

God expects us to fall, I am not making light of sin, because we know God hates sin, but God knows we are human.  The difference is in this, “the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity” (Proverbs 24:16).  We must keep getting up, dusting off and moving forward.  We must remember to look to God WHEN WE ARE FALLING, because “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Psalm 145:14).  We far too many times, or at least I know I, look to the Lord just a little too late, when the trial and pain associated with a bad decision is already on us. 

Joel tells us to “rend your hearts and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” (2:13).  God does not want us to have to go through the things our mistakes … our bad decisions … our sins bring upon us.  God is slow to anger, and listen to this, abounds in steadfast love.  Do we really get this; do we really believe this?  We could look at numerous other passages that tell us the same thing, and I hope you will, passages like Psalm 90:14, Psalm 21:6 and Isaiah 61:10 just to name a few.  All tell us how much God loves us and how much he wants us to depend on Him.  The greatest of all such passages is John 3:16-17.  We all know it, but I must include it here.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  We often stop at verse 16, but by continuing we see our God is a forgiving, not a condemning God.

God sees things a little different, well actually, a whole lot different than we, the world, and sometimes, even the church, see things.  God’s mirror is different from the one we use.  We see all the dirt, grime, scars and failures of our lives … of our past, but God sees something completely different.  “The Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  We deserve destruction, enslavement and punishment but we receive life, freedom and Jesus.  “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)  We all fall short … we all make mistakes … we all sin, but we are all justified by His grace. (Romans 3:23-24)  We must keep getting up and moving forward, but use God’s mirror when you look at yourself, He does.

God Bless!