Mirror Image part 5
When you look in the mirror you need to stop seeing what's on the surface. You need to start seeing what's deep inside. Look at Ephesians 5:27 in the NLT, "He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault." This is what happened on the cross. This is what it means to be conformed to the image of God's Son. If you look at the surface, you see spots and wrinkles and blemishes. But that's not what's real. What's real is the perfection of Jesus--the perfection that IS Jesus--within you coming out of you as you fill yourself to overflowing with what you've been filled with. As you look at the mirror with an unveiled face. No longer can the accuser's lies have any effect on you. Because you know the truth. And the truth both sets you free and makes you free. Don't we get it? There is no condemnation in Christ. Because there is nothing to condemn. We are holy and without fault. As He is, so are we in this world. Don't we get it? Jesus TOOK AWAY the sin (unbelief) of the world. And now, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9). If you look in the mirror and see a sinner... look again. A believer, by definition, cannot sin. Because a believer cannot unbelieve. Right? And, listen, I'm not talking about moments of doubt. I'm not talking about making mistakes. We're human. We make mistakes. We do dumb stuff. But making a mistake does not disqualify you from anything. And it doesn't change who you are. You ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. That's your identity. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. The true you. So if you make a mistake, that doesn't change your identity. All that does is make you the righteousness of God in Christ who made a mistake. And guess what: If you never make a mistake you can't learn from your mistakes. I think we can all agree that more is learned from failure than from success. Most of the time you have to do it wrong before you can do it right. That's not failure. That's learning and growing. Not being someone you're not, but learning who you really are. Learning how to BE who you really are by letting Jesus reveal Himself to you, and in you, and through you, and as you. I'll say it again: Filling yourself to overflowing with what you've been filled with. The love inside filling us to overflowing and coming out. Naturally. That's what we see in the mirror. Because that's the truth. The accuser's lie said, "You have to do in order to be. You have to earn God's love." But the truth of the matter is, God loves you. Period. He always has and He always will. Jesus presented us to Himself--again, conformed us to His image--by washing us with the Word. And the Word is love. Love got rid of our blemishes and our spots. The things we didn't like about ourselves that we thought we needed to change, or overcome. Jesus took care of it. He showed us who we REALLY are by showing us who HE really is. We live in Him. He lives in us. That's the man in the mirror. That's who we see when we stop looking AT ourselves (and each other) and start looking INTO the mirror!