Do you ever look in the mirror? One hurried morning, I arrived at work with a peanut butter smear on my chin. This, I discovered, after an important meeting. No one pointed it out, but in hindsight they found me unusually funny whenever I said something.
I heard about an old gal who looked in the mirror one morning. She had just three remaining hairs on her head, so being a positive soul, she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” She did, and she had a great day. A week passed. Looking in the mirror, she saw that she had only two hairs remaining. “Hmm, two hairs,” she said, “I shall part it down the middle today.” She did, and she had a great day. A week later, noticing just one hair left, she said, “I know, a ponytail will be perfect.” And again, she had a great day. A week later, she was completely bald. “Aha!” she said to herself, “I’ll cancel that hair appointment and save some time and money.” With an attitude like that, she likely lived 50 more years!
The truth is, most of us don’t come away laughing when we look in the mirror. In my teen years, I stood there each morning. I had hair to comb, creams to apply, peers to amaze, things to flex. But when I looked at myself, I saw a thin, mistake-prone kid with lots of regrets. This was my identity.
Even now, mirrors remind me that gravity doesn’t tend to lift things, and unlike that dear old lady, I focus on all that’s wrong, which always sucks joy, chokes laughter, and doubles our wrinkles.
How do you see yourself?
In our bathroom is a framed print of John 10:10 (NIV): “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” It’s an appropriate room for this verse. Because we have an enemy who never wants us to look in the mirror and see our true value. He wants us to focus on our imperfections, our shortcomings, our failures, to focus on us.
Not long ago, I was reading along in my Bible, when 2 Corinthians 3:18 lunged out at me: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory…” The chapter explains that when we turn to Jesus, a veil is removed, helping us see and reflect the glory of God. Our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as we are changed into his glorious image.
I looked in the mirror. Nose a little crooked. Wrinkles just as pronounced. A flake of spinach lodged between my teeth. But I smiled.
You see, when we catch a tiny glimpse of how God sees us, it doesn’t matter what our mirror whispers. We bear His image, His likeness, His glory. Colossians 1:22 shouts, you are “holy in [God’s] sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”
Our identity is that of a treasured child of God, a joint heir with Jesus. By grace through faith, we are loved, forgiven, righteous. None of this is based on how we look, what we earn, or what we accomplish, but on what God has already accomplished through Jesus Christ. If that doesn’t light your fire, your wood is soaking wet.
And now, I better go. I have a meeting. The peanut butter sandwich is washed off. But I must do my hair. There are just six of them left so I may go with the double braid, or part them right down the middle.
