As in water face reflects face,

    so the heart of man reflects the man.

– Proverbs 27:19

Mountains are a splendor to behold. Very few people are not awestruck when gazing at the majestic, rugged beauty of the mountains. People from all different countries come to Montana each year to glimpse the unique and unrefined beauty of Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. The idealistic view is a high mountain lake providing a seemingly perfect reflection of a towing peak. This picture creates a mirror image that looks correct no matter which way you look at it. When we see such things, we are moved. Something with us stirs. Instead of feeling small and insignificant in comparison to something so looming and beautiful, we are inspired.

Mirrors are a strange oddity. They have become such a normal necessity in our life. We use them for a variety of different things. The obvious one is using it to evaluate how we look. Are we presentable to those we will encounter throughout the day? Does our shirt match and compliment our pants and shoes? However, beyond our grooming needs, we also use mirrors every time we drive. The awareness here keeps us safe, granting us an understanding of what cars or potential dangers are around us. Like many things in our life, we take for granted the importance of the mirrors in our automobiles. 

Mirrors are also used in architecture. Because of their reflective abilities, they can make a small space look big. They can help make a dimly lit room more radiant. When we go to the dentist or the doctor, mirrors are employed to help diagnose and evaluate, keeping us healthy and uncovering potential issues.

As beneficial as all of these things are, probably the best use of a mirror is self reflection. Not just looking at our physical reflection, but looking inside of ourselves. Looking at the true person we are. When looking in the mirror what do you see? More importantly, who do you see?

We all reflect something. It is important to discover what it is we are mirroring in our lives. This is deeper than just the image we see, it cuts to our heart, our true nature that is reflected into this world and those around us.

Within Christian circles, we would rarely deny that we are to be a reflection of the Lord. Look at what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18, And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.  

We want to believe we are reflecting Christ, we know that when we look in the mirror we should see Jesus, but sometimes we relate more to the words of James in James 1:23-24, 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.

Without Christ in our life, without understanding our identity in Christ, we lose sight of ourselves. At that point, it is easy to be influenced to reflect on other things in our life. Because in reality, we are always reflecting something. When we were in the world we looked like the world, we thought like the world, we spoke like the world. In essence, reflecting the world into the world causes one to become camouflage to the world. You become absorbed into the world system, your identity lost, your uniqueness becoming little more than conformity. 

God calls us to so much more. When we reflect the glory of the Lord, our uniqueness shines and we extol Christ to those around us.

So take a good look, who are you reflecting?