People

The Mirror is for me

by olive Ngoe
02/09/11
Free to Share

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

THE MIRROR IS FOR ME
As I sat in the pew at church today, I nodded at every word that the preacher shared. God had put a mirror in front of me and he was asking me to observe the reflection carefully. The problem was that at some point I was not keeping my focus on the face that was staring back at me. As the preacher taught about avoiding a pharisaical way of life and striving to love with the genuine love of my Lord Jesus Christ, she gave many relevant examples. And these examples brought to mind someone who I could relate all this to. It was not me; it was not the face my eyes were on. Instead it was a loved one who fit those examples so perfectly that I thought it was the person the preacher was talking about. And I sighed quietly, there in the pew, wishing the person had been there to listen to such grave words of reproof, of rebuke and correction. The loved one was not there; they had not come to fellowship today. I looked up to heaven again and sighed, ‘what a waste it had been’, or so I thought, that the person had not had a chance to hear such a word.
And I say that my Father has a sense of humor. For you see at that time, I was standing in the middle of the temple, thumping my chest and thanking him that I was not like ‘other people’ who should have been there to listen. I stood there extolling my virtues and feeling self-righteous. It was at that moment that I saw clearly the face in the mirror. It was not my loved one that God wanted in that place at that moment, it was I. I burst out laughing, I was amused. For all this time I had sat there hanging my loved one by the preacher’s words and yet it was I that Father wanted to deal with; the one looking back in the mirror. At that moment I am sure I had him say, ‘my child, who told you that it was your loved one I wanted to talk to? Else I would have brought him here. It is your pharisaical attitude towards them that I need to deal with. The mirror is for you to see yourself!’
I sat there in the pew, thinking of the many times that I had directed the word meant for me towards another person; that I had sat in front of the Father’s mirror and conveniently conjured up another face instead of letting myself see the real log that blocked my own vision. I had been so eager about other people’s situations that I had not been willing to see my own. And the sad bit is that in these times I missed what he had for me and left the same way I came.
Now I understand why change has to happen on the inside first. There are times I go on short lived ‘crusades’ to change the world or my environment or my friends with little impact. My father however knows that there can be precious little change in the environment when he has not dealt with my heart. So while I am scurrying about in an effort ‘to make disciples of men’ in my own effort and a lot less fickle human love, he is dealing with my attitude that is impatient and judgmental and unkind and unfaithful and simply human! And by that standard I treat all other people. He holds up the mirror in love not spite, so that I can see that while I am still the one in focus, then all I do is a loud empty gong. And when I see that I am reminded that I should be decreasing and Jesus increasing and I seek him more. Then one day when he holds up the mirror, I will no longer recognize that face as mine. I will see him, that has the nail scarred hands and feet, the one who loves unconditionally, for I will have died completely and he will be living in me