Mirror, Mirror in my hand......

Snow White. 

At the beginning of the story of Snow White, a queen wishes for a daughter as "white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as that wood of the window frame."

Soon after, the queen indeed gives birth to a baby girl with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony.  They name her "Snow White", and not long after, the queen dies.

After a year has passed, the King takes a new wife, who is beautiful but also unutterably wicked and vain.

The new queen possesses a Magic Mirror which she asks every morning:  "Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?"

And the story goes on.

In one sense, the Word of God is that mirror.

The Word of God reveals who we really are, not on the outside, but on the inside.  Our character.  Our spirituality.  Who we are in Christ.

Pastor James writes this in James 1:23-25: 

"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says I like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does."

What is the purpose of a mirror?  To evaluate ourselves.  We look in a mirror to asses the damage from the night before.

Then we do something about it. 

Let me ask you this question:  what good is a mirror if we don't do anything about what we see?

A mirror reflects what we're like on the outside.  God's Word reflects what we're like on the inside.

Hebrews says, "God's word detects the thoughts, intents, motives and desires of the heart."

So we are to, as James writes, we are to "look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom."

The word "look" there (in the Greek) means to research what you are looking at.  To investigate what you are reading. 

To not only glance at the mirror (the word of God) but to gaze at the mirror (the Word of God).

Here are some questions that I encourage you to ask as you read God's Word on a daily basis.

Is there a sin toe confess?

Is there a promise to claim?

Is there an attitude to change?

Is there a command to obey?

Is there an example to follow?

Is there a prayer to pray? 

Is there an error to avoid?

Is there a truth to believe?

Is there something to thank God for?

That's how you look intently at the word of God.  It is the mirror to the soul. 

Just a thought for a Thursday.