The Man In The Mirror

"The Man In The Mirror"

A few months ago, while having something of a “girl moment”, I found myself, with my wife at my side mind you, engrossed in the TLC show What Not To Wear.  If you’re unfamiliar with the show, the game goes something like this: You’re a frumpy dresser who doesn’t take as good of care of yourself as you should.  Your friends recommend you to this show and, VOILA, you’re given a complete makeover.  Hair.  Clothes.  Shoes.  Makeup–the whole bit.

The show was progressing along nicely, and I was genuinely enjoying the process!  Then came the point where the young woman, we’ll call her “Nancy”, was made to submit her uncared for countenance to the skilled hands of the resident makeup artist.   Before the process began, the makeup artist turned the chair around, forcing Nancy to look at her non-made-over face in the mirror.  The artist then posed the question, “What do you see when you look at yourself in the mirror?”  The woman answered back without hesitating, listing off all of the negative features she saw in herself, “I see red, blotchy skin.  Tired, sunken eyes.  Dry, frizzy hair, etc…” The makeup artist interrupted in a firm but gentle tone, “Wait, wait, wait! I want you to take another look in the mirror.  Only this time I don’t want you to pick out your negative features, I want you to find what IS beautiful about you!  That will make this makeover MUCH easier, and MUCH more enjoyable!”

The principle being related by the makeup artist was very simple, yet very profound.  She understood that as long as “Nancy” saw herself as barely passable as slightly prettier than a chimpanzee, this makeover would remind her only of how unattractive she really was.  This makeover would seem to Nancy as nothing more than a sad attempt to make an ugly woman slightly less ugly.  It would seem to her as a painful, and almost humiliating process.  It wouldn’t cause her to want to change her behavior or beautification regiment in the mornings.  On the contrary, it would only serve to remind her of those faults and blemishes which she was probably taunted about in junior high and high school.  This replaying of humiliation and embarrassment would only cause her to neglect herself even more, thinking, “What’s the point of even trying?”.

However, if, as the makeup artist was attempting to do, Nancy could be caused to see the latent beauty that has always been sprawled across her face; if she could be made to see that she was not slightly-less-revolting than the hind end of a baboon, but was, in fact, actually pretty beneath all of her neglect, than perhaps this makeover could be transformed into something altogether different.  Perhaps now, instead of being a torturous procedure in which she is reminded of how unattractive she is, it could actually be a journey of discovery in which she finds that beauty has been hidden within her all along like a buried treasure!  Perhaps the unveiling at the end of it all could be a joyful finding of her true self as opposed to being a hurtful, humiliating event.  Perhaps the makeover could be…fun!  Enjoyable!  Pleasant!  Easy!

Now I’m sure that you’ve already gathered that my purpose in writing today is not to give you tips on conducting successful makeovers on bitter and disgruntled clients.  Rather, I wish to unravel this parable today and help you gain a new understanding of the process of sanctification!  You see, sanctification seems to the average believer like what Nancy’s makeover seemed to her–a horribly demeaning process in which our faults and blemishes are laid bare.  This process of “becoming like Jesus” seems to us to be the most difficult thing imaginable!  I mean, after all, how could two people be so different and diametrically opposed to one another as “us” and Jesus, right?  I mean this “makeover” process is literally going to take forever!  Not only will the road be long, but it will the most boring, harsh journey we’ve ever known!  Right?  Right?  Maybe not so right!

You see, the process of “holiness” and “sanctification” seems so torturous to us because we are completely out of touch with our true identity.  Like Nancy, we see ourselves as barely passable as children of “fallen Adam”, let alone as children of the Most High God!  We are painfully conscious of all of our areas of weakness.  All of our spiritual blemishes seem to marked out in bold lettering, overlaid with a florescent yellow high-lighter.  Just sitting in the chair makes us squeamish and uneasy.  Certainly all of our ways are laid bare before the eyes of the Lord…we’re in BIG trouble, so we think!

Certainly we are all pockmarked with failures, broken promises–in a word, sin!  We are definitely not lacking in failures, faults and malfunctions.  However, if our main focus in the process of sanctification is our faults, I promise you this one thing–you will eventually give up on the process!  Instead of your behavior being modified, spiritually speaking, you’ll run right back to the dirty, faded, ripped jeans, the over-sized hoodie, and the matted, unkempt hair.  Why?  Because it seems so much easier than attempting to “become like Jesus”!  I think that King Jesus, the conductor of this makeover, would have us take a second look at the man in the mirror.

Read the following passage of scripture from James 1:21-25 with me very carefully:

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.

James gives us a prescription here for ridding ourselves of “moral filth” and “evil”.  His instructions could be easily misunderstood if we do only a surface read.  However, look closely at what James recommends, “accept the word planted in you“.  James declares to us that the word of God has been implanted within us!  He goes on to say that an individual who looks into the perfect law, or the word of God, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like.  Why is this?  Because when a believer looks into the word of God, they are NOT beholding the exact opposite of themselves, they are beholding their true selves!  Remember what James says in verse 21, “…accept the implanted word…”!  This means that the nature and essence of all that the word declares is already within you through the Holy Spirit!  In other words, when you look into the word, you are looking into the mirror!  You are seeing who you truly are!

When you read of all of the character traits Jesus desires and requires of us in the sermon on the mount, you are looking in the mirror!  When you read the Galatians 5 list of the fruits of the Spirit, you are looking in the mirror!  This is your true identity!  Everything that you need to be a man or a woman of God has already been placed within you!  You are NOT your blemishes!  You possess the very nature of God through Jesus Christ!  However, because we have been trained to major on our faults, they are all that we see!

“Wait just a minute!”, you may say, “If I possess the nature of God, if I possess the ‘implanted word’, than why would I still have these faults?”  Because, as in the case of Nancy, the beauty of Jesus Christ that you were given through salvation, is most likely buried beneath years of neglect.  You’ve been told by preachers all of your life that you are your hang up, that you’re identity is found in your dysfunction!  You’re identification with your weakness has caused you to embrace a lifestyle in which you have taken on the appearance of your old nature instead of enhancing and bringing out the nature of Jesus Christ within you.  The real truth is, however, that you are the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ!  (2 Cor 5:21)

We may still be in a process, but the process becomes much more enjoyable when you realize that you are not trying to insert beauty into  you…you’re trying to get it out of you!  You see, under the Old Covenant, God standards and laws were on the outside, trying to get in!  They were two, external stone tablets aiming all ten of their big guns at you!  Inside of you was a sinful nature in complete disagreement with those external laws…this produced the struggle Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 7.  Paul was not speaking of this struggle as something he was experiencing in the present tense, but was describing the struggle of a man attempting to keep the law without the Spirit or the new heart received through regeneration.  You see, the law, the word, is no longer an external thing–it is within you, written on your heart!

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people. (JEREMIAH 31:33)

You see, the laws and standards of God are no longer external, trying to get in!  They are now internal, trying to get out!  This is why Paul instructs us to “…work out your own salvation…” (Php 2:12)  Salvation has already been worked in, now it needs to be worked out!  That beautiful nature of Jesus Christ we all long to be transformed into is, in reality, already within us as believers!  Again in 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul speaks of the process of transformation into Christ-likeness when He declares that we are “…transformed into the same image from Glory to Glory…”. Notice, firstly, that Paul states that we are always going from “Glory to Glory”!  This means that as a believer, we are never anything less than glorious!  We are always at a platform of glory!  We do not ascend from “garbage to Glory”, but from “Glory to Glory”!  This means that even in the transformation process, we are glorious!
Secondly, when Paul declares that we are being “transformed”, he uses the Greek word metamorpho.  From this word we derive the English word metamorphosis.  Now, when you think of the process of transformation known as metamorphosis, which creature (hint-it’s an insect) comes to the fore-front of your mind?  If you’re like me, you were thinking of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.  Now, how does this metamorphosis take place?  Do magical “butterfly-fairies” descend from the skies at night, wrap the ugly caterpillar in a silken cocoon, give it liposuction, remove it’s slimy suction cup legs and attach long, slender appendages?  Do they then, by use of their fairy-magic, attach beautifully colored wings, giving the once earth-bound worm the ability to fly?  Certainly not!  The metamorphosis occurs from the inside out!  There is not outside influence involved in the transformation!  Everything the caterpillar needs to be transformed already lurks within!  In the same way, Peter tells us that we already have within us, “…everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)  We, like the caterpillar, are “metamorphosized” not from the outside in, but from the inside out!  This is the “implanted word” that James spoke of at work!  As we gaze upon the face of Jesus in communion and the word, His nature within us is magnetically drawn to the surface!

Consider the words of the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 10:14

“…because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

How can we be both “perfect forever” and yet “being made holy”?  You see, your spirit is already perfected and made into the beautiful image of Jesus Christ!  Yet, this image is being worked out of you in a “Glory to Glory” transformation process!

I’m telling you today friends, that if we would simply shift the way we think concerning holiness and sanctification, the process would lose it’s awful sting and actually become something enjoyable!  Think of it, holiness and enjoyment, joined together!  It almost seems to good to be true…but then, that’s the Gospel for you!  If we truly wish to honor the sacrifice of Jesus, we must honor the reality that He has transformed us into new creations!  We must honor the fact that the proverbial “man in the mirror” is not our old self who bore Adam’s broken, fallen likeness!  The Man in the mirror is Jesus Christ!  We may not see it clearly yet, but trust me, if you’re born again, He’s there!  He’s in you!  His beauty, His law, His character, His ways–all are within, not without!  Holiness and sanctification is the process by which His nature is drawn out of you, not placed into you!

Today I give you a solemn charge:  Take Another Look At The Man In The Mirror!  You might just be shocked by what you see!

2 CORINTHIANS 3:18

“But we all, with unveiled face, *** beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord***, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

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