If we could see ourselves the way God wants to see us we would be profoundly changed.
The Apostle Paul likens reading and studying the Word of God to looking in a mirror, only this reflection is that of Jesus Christ onto our own person.
The Word of God has the dynamic of shining God’s glory into our lives.
Reflecting God’s Presence
Do you remember when Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone from the finger of God?
He spent forty days and forty nights in the very Presence of the Almighty and it was said that when descended from the mountain the people of Israel could not look upon him because his face shone with the glory of God.
They were absolutely terrified of what they saw because whilst Moses had been aloft they were setting up an idol to worship believing they had been abandoned by their leader.
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
Moses countenance reflected that of God when he arrived back on the earth below.
When we look into the Word of God we are allowing His will to shine onto our faces. We are looking into the perfect image of God revealed in the prophecies and life of Jesus and in the subsequent explanation of what it means to follow Christ all of our days.
The Word of God illuminates us with His Presence. What shone on Moses face was the glory of the Old Covenant. We reflect the glory of the New, built upon better promises.
Staying focused
James reminds us that we can be looking into that glory and then look away and we will forget what we actually look like in the Presence of God.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James 1:23-25
Yes, so we need to activate the Word we see to make it real in our lives. Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
Paul tells us we see ourselves as God sees us when we are looking into the Word and gradually it becomes clear and clearer to us who we really are in Christ.
Therefore we should keep on looking.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Sometimes the flesh is allowed to overrule the Spirit. We have to be aware of this compromise. We need to receive that Word into our heart so much that it becomes a part of us so that we don’t just have to read and study the actual letter on a page, but it is stored deep within our own revived spirit.
Moses face shone to brightly that the children of Israel asked him to place a veil over his face. It’s as if they were too ashamed to gaze into the glory of God. Their own sin drove them from His Presence. Their own frailty shut them off from His will.
But we can have our sin removed from our lives through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we will be guilt free and able to stand to look into God’s glory.
His Word will come alive to us and we will be able allow His Presence to be reflected in our own lives as we adopt His will and begin to live the Word.
The mirror of God’s Word will permeate our lives.
It’s the only place to be.
