Perspective: Mirror, Mirror in the Words

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

Mirror, Mirror in the Words

You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don't do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don't listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do.

James 1:22-25 (CEB)

This is your life

Are you who you want to be?

This is your life

Are you who you want to be?

This is your life

Is it everything you dreamed that it would be

When the world was younger

And you had everything to lose?

From "This Is Your Life" by Switchfoot

What do you see in the image below?

This abstract image is one of the original ten images used by Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach in the psychological test that now bears his name. In this test, the images shown to a person hold no meaning whatsoever, for they are nothing but symmetrical blots of ink. What is significant, on the other hand, is what a person sees in the images. By studying a patient's reaction to these random blots of ink, a psychologist can discover a lot about the patient's personality, thought processes, and emotional state.¹

I once said to somebody that I sometimes think of the Bible as a type of inkblot test. The Scripture passages and Bible stories that are most dear to me are the ones in which I can see myself. In the Parable of the Talents I see that I am often guilty of burying myself in the same way that the cowardly servant buried the money he was entrusted. I long to be bold like the other two servants who invested aggressively.² Another Bible story that evokes a number of different emotional responses from people is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Some look back on their past mistakes and identify with the prodigal, while others who have tried to walk the straight and narrow path their whole lives identify with the older son who resented his wayward brother.³

A lot of people are very concerned about proving the Bible to be historically accurate. This is not a major concern for me. To me, the Bible is not just a collection of stories of people who lived and died thousands of years ago but a collection of stories about all of us. The themes in Scripture are universal, teaching us about our relationships to God and to each other. I believe that we shouldn't just believe what the Bible says but that we should actually try find ourselves within its pages.

St. James, in his letter to the early Church, compares the words of God to a mirror. He says that people who hear or read the words of God and do not apply them to their lives are no different from a person who sees his reflection in a mirror and then walks away, immediately forgetting what he has seen. The Scriptures function like a spiritual mirror. Just as a mirror shows us our own visage, the Scriptures show us who we are spiritually.

People typically don't look in the bathroom mirror in the morning and then proceed to go out into the world looking as if they just got out of the bed. Usually, people will take note of their disheveled appearance and then take action. At the very least they will comb their hair and wash their faces. Some might even shave or put on makeup. Even people who are going for the just-got-out-of-bed look put forth some effort in order to look that way.

St. Paul writes that Scripture is beneficial for "teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character."⁴ When we study the Scriptures we will inevitably see the things in our lives that require attention. We will be confronted with the ways in which we have not loved God with all our hearts and the ways in which we have not loved the people around us. In the same way that we do not walk away from the mirror in the morning without combing our hair, if we follow the advice of James, we will not walk away from God's words without changing the way we live.⁵

A lot of us have love-hate relationships with mirrors. I know that when I look in the mirror, I sometimes find myself wishing that my hair would stay in place or wishing that I didn't look as if I was in my mid teens when I am actually in my late twenties. It is important to remember that mirrors show us more than the things we don't like about ourselves; they show us the good things about us as well. Mirrors remind us that we are all unique individuals, for, like leaves, snowflakes, and clouds, each and every one of us is created differently. Mirrors remind us that we are all "fearfully-and-wonderfully-made" creations of God.

In the same way that we can become fixated on what we don't like in the mirror, we can become fixated on our faults as well. Some people, myself included, sometimes use the words of Scripture to beat themselves up for continually missing the mark. It is important that we remember that, as a mirror, God's words show us not only where we need work, but also what is right about us. The Scriptures show us that, as humans, we are the image bearers of the divine.⁶ The Scriptures show us that our full potential as human beings is to be motivated by love in all that we do.⁷ Most importantly, the Scriptures repeatedly show us that we are all dearly loved by God in spite of our faults.⁸

When we encounter these truths in the words of God, we must not simply walk away and forget them. We must not forget who we really are.

May you be not only a hearer or reader of God's words, but also a doer of God's words as well. May you find your own story in the stories of the Bible. May you see your own reflection in the pages of Scripture, seeing not only the things that need work, but also the things that are good about you as well. Most of all, may you see yourself as one dearly loved by God.


Notes:
1 - Wikipedia: "Rorschach test"
2 - For the Parable of the Talents, see Matthew 25:14-30.
3 - For the Parable of the Prodigal Son, see Luke 15:11-32.
4 - 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEB)
5 - I use the plural phrases "God's words" and "words of God" deliberately in this perspective. The Word of God is not the Bible but Jesus Christ himself. See John 1:1-18.
6 - See Genesis 1:26-27.
7 - See Matthew 22:34-40.
8 - See John 3:16 for starters.

You can see all the original images of the Rorschach test here.