LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR
"But we all, with an 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." - 2Cor 3:18
The mirror is one of the most priced asset of a lady, even guys may not be left out in this matter, many take time to stand in front of the mirror adjusting, taking different pose, sometimes even demonstrating, all in a bid to give an impression to the people they come across. Where there is no mirror, we often lose a sense of identity, one may not know what he or she looks like and may have to depend on people to be the mirror. Legend has it that the mirror was one of the monetary reward of slave trade. The slave masters gave mirrors to slave traders in exchange of a human being. A person may become so obsessed about how he looks that he could value his image on a screen more than the life of a person.
As regards our opening text, we would try to understand what Apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote that verse that resounds so clearly in my ears. We would try to look at the illustration of our gazing unto Jesus in relation to we looking into a mirror. Another thing of note for me is the 'unveiled face' he talked about. I really hope that the Lord grants you understanding of His word to align yourself in this revelation.
Talking about the veil, I cannot even imagine that a masquerade would want to look into mirror, it is also foolishness for a man putting on a mask to dare look into the mirror, of course the image produced will be a fake reflection of his person. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had to veil his face because the people's heart were hardened and they couldn't look directly at him. If Moses face was a reflection of God's glory, the people weren't ready to look at his face.
When we consider the illustration of the mirror, we would rightly know that we don't just stare at the mirror for staring sake, we look into the mirror to reassure ourselves of what we really look like, it therefore points us to the truth that, we must gaze unto Jesus for our identity, as we gaze into the mirror to correct our makeup or some other things, we must look intently at Jesus for a correction of our lives. The mirror helps us examine ourselves.
The scripture tells us that when a person comes to Christ the veil of their hearts is taken away, we must know that the veil represents hardness, but it also represent pretence; one who comes to Jesus must be broken, and yet must not come in disguise. This is so because, for the glory to penetrate into our lives, we must make a deliberate effort, to allow the veil off us.
Please, pay attention to few things I will be pointing us to, by the grace of God, in order for us to align ourselves in truth.
THEY LOOKED AT THE SERPENT
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.'" - Num 21:8
It wasn't just that they couldn't look directly into the face of Moses, it became worse for them, that when they rebelled against the Lord, the Lord sent serpents into their midst, and the serpent bit them, for them to live they have to stare to the bronze serpent.
What is of importance to me is that, they looked only to the bronze serpent for survival, the bronze serpent had no reflection or whatever, they only looked at what was their greatest fear in the eye, they looked at what brought torment to them and they did it out of survival. He that the serpent bites, knows that he had to respect an image of a mere serpent. They became less of themselves just for survival. They looked at the serpent but never got an identity of themselves.
Many times, a man who is a Christain may have been forced to look unto other things to survive, sometimes some have bowed to the image of mere mortals to worship in order to survive. They have been tormented by the devil, so they have a revered fear or admiration for the devil. The Lord does not want to save us through fear, no, but because of their hardened hearts, they had to look at the serpents as a warning or whatever it represented.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:14-15
They looked at the bronze serpent for a temporal survival, because most of them still perished in the wilderness, the serpent they looked at was just for those who were bitten by that serpent, those who were struck by missiles couldn't look at the serpent to live, those who were oppressed by the devil, couldn't look at the serpent for deliverance, those who have leprosy couldn't look at the serpent for a cleansing.
But for the whole dignity of man to be restored, we must lift Jesus up and believe in Him. We must look to Him and believe that He alone can restore the dignity of man. And we don't just look unto Jesus for a temporary life, no, we look to Him for the life that never ends.
We don't also have to wait till we are bitten by a serpent before we start looking unto Jesus, we can look unto Him now as the Author and Finisher of our faith. It will be beneficial now to lift Jesus up and look to Him for an identity, even if your identity is lost, you can trust Him for a restoration. These words may sound like rhymes but I think there are truths therein.
LOOKING INTO THE PERFECT LAW
"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 word, this one will be blessed in what he does." - James 1:25
Another matter of note as regards the mirror is the looking itself, it is not wisdom to turn the back to a mirror, and we look at the mirror also to correct that which we can see. A person who is looking at Jesus must continue looking, you must have an obsession for looking at Jesus, just as some people are obsessed with the normal mirror, anything that can reflect their image, they take time to look at, even if it is a tinted glass of a car or a window.
Just like the normal mirror where we have to do the correction while looking, the transformation that comes to us while looking unto Jesus is directly proportional to our doing of the word. Jesus is the Word of God and He too is the perfect law of liberty.
If you look unto Jesus today, you may not like what you see at first, as it may reflect all of your sins, your weaknesses, your pains, your anger and many other secret sins; but if only you will continue in that perfect law of liberty - you can be sure that the scar will be gone, the dark spot will vanish and you begin to reflect the bright glory of God.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14
How we need to see the truth and be free, how we need to behold this glory as in a mirror through the continuous doing of the word. When we behold His glory we find our true identity and we are no longer deceived by the mask of the devil. The scripture clearly states that the Word has become flesh, so Jesus is not an abstraction to be imagined, no, He is already made flesh for us to look.
They say pictures don't lie, but we know that with the advent of photoshop and the likes, pictures can lie and that would be deception, but I know for sure that mirrors don't lie. They tell us how we really are if we don't have any mask on (maybe makeup is a mask). That's the same thing that happens when we behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, it tells of our true identity and also offers hope of rubbing His glory on us.
There are degrees of glory, that is why the opening scripture states that we transformed into His image from glory to glory. If you keep at the word, that is in doing it, you will keep moving on a continuous progression of glory and it's all for your good.
DON'T FORGET WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE
"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." - James 1:23-24
The scriptures is totally loaded anytime any day, the scripture states that the man who does not continue to do the word is like a man, who just observes his natural face and forgets what he sees. It is somehow instructive to everyone today, how many just observe their fallen nature when they take a look at Jesus, but they really do not do anything about it. In fact, when they look, they think there is something good about them, they see the hope of becoming better, but end up forgetting what they saw; just because they won't just do the word.
The best way to be transformed into His image in glory is to do the word. It is not by mere speaking in tongues or trying to give an impression, it is in the doing and continuous gazing into the image of Jesus. Don't forget what you saw, whether you saw good or bad, don't forget that you saw the possibility of glory that you would be transformed into, why not continue therein.
Many times when we see the possibility of what we can be, especially when the pastor brings it to light, we are often wowed by the possibility, but staying in the word by doing the simplest things becomes problematic...we must stay in the word doing, and by that Jesus transforms our lives in degrees of glory.
NO SHAME IN THIS MIRROR
"They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed." - Psalm 34:5
The person who have looked to Him like a mirror knows no shame at the end of the day, such a person encounters the light of His glory and surely want to keep on gazing unto Him. I have surely looked at Him through His word, I have caught a glimpse of Him through His presence when I worship, I have started experiencing a level of His glory...how can one like me be ashamed.
The encounter of the Mount where Jesus was transfigured is another awesome experience of His presence. A life of shame can be transformed in a split second if a person would believe in the Lord of glory. The glory of the Lord is available to all who would look steadfastly at Jesus. It got to a time Moses had to ask the Lord to show him His glory; and the Lord gave Him an experience of a lifetime.
Moses was the Pastor or prophet at that time and people couldn't look at his face, today God has given us the access to even look at Him directly as one looks at a mirror, the grace of Jesus availed us the opportunity to experience His shekinah glory first hand. Don't let the shame of the past make your head bowed, just look at Him and watch your shame pass.
That woman who they wanted to stone in John chapter 8, would have been so ashamed of herself that she would have preferred that the ground opens up; but when Jesus gave her a glimpse of His mercy, all her shame was gone in no time, it was those who accused her that left the place in shame. She looked at Him and got mercy, her face became radiant through the joy of obtaining such mercy. Please look at Him.
CONCLUSION
We all need to gaze at Jesus to experience His glory, let the veil be off, keep your gaze at Him and you will know no shame - glory is what happens when we behold the only begotten of the Father.
God bless you and I love you
Akinsuroju Femi
© The Fundamentals
The mirror is one of the most priced asset of a lady, even guys may not be left out in this matter, many take time to stand in front of the mirror adjusting, taking different pose, sometimes even demonstrating, all in a bid to give an impression to the people they come across. Where there is no mirror, we often lose a sense of identity, one may not know what he or she looks like and may have to depend on people to be the mirror. Legend has it that the mirror was one of the monetary reward of slave trade. The slave masters gave mirrors to slave traders in exchange of a human being. A person may become so obsessed about how he looks that he could value his image on a screen more than the life of a person.
As regards our opening text, we would try to understand what Apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote that verse that resounds so clearly in my ears. We would try to look at the illustration of our gazing unto Jesus in relation to we looking into a mirror. Another thing of note for me is the 'unveiled face' he talked about. I really hope that the Lord grants you understanding of His word to align yourself in this revelation.
Talking about the veil, I cannot even imagine that a masquerade would want to look into mirror, it is also foolishness for a man putting on a mask to dare look into the mirror, of course the image produced will be a fake reflection of his person. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had to veil his face because the people's heart were hardened and they couldn't look directly at him. If Moses face was a reflection of God's glory, the people weren't ready to look at his face.
When we consider the illustration of the mirror, we would rightly know that we don't just stare at the mirror for staring sake, we look into the mirror to reassure ourselves of what we really look like, it therefore points us to the truth that, we must gaze unto Jesus for our identity, as we gaze into the mirror to correct our makeup or some other things, we must look intently at Jesus for a correction of our lives. The mirror helps us examine ourselves.
The scripture tells us that when a person comes to Christ the veil of their hearts is taken away, we must know that the veil represents hardness, but it also represent pretence; one who comes to Jesus must be broken, and yet must not come in disguise. This is so because, for the glory to penetrate into our lives, we must make a deliberate effort, to allow the veil off us.
Please, pay attention to few things I will be pointing us to, by the grace of God, in order for us to align ourselves in truth.
THEY LOOKED AT THE SERPENT
"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.'" - Num 21:8
It wasn't just that they couldn't look directly into the face of Moses, it became worse for them, that when they rebelled against the Lord, the Lord sent serpents into their midst, and the serpent bit them, for them to live they have to stare to the bronze serpent.
What is of importance to me is that, they looked only to the bronze serpent for survival, the bronze serpent had no reflection or whatever, they only looked at what was their greatest fear in the eye, they looked at what brought torment to them and they did it out of survival. He that the serpent bites, knows that he had to respect an image of a mere serpent. They became less of themselves just for survival. They looked at the serpent but never got an identity of themselves.
Many times, a man who is a Christain may have been forced to look unto other things to survive, sometimes some have bowed to the image of mere mortals to worship in order to survive. They have been tormented by the devil, so they have a revered fear or admiration for the devil. The Lord does not want to save us through fear, no, but because of their hardened hearts, they had to look at the serpents as a warning or whatever it represented.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:14-15
They looked at the bronze serpent for a temporal survival, because most of them still perished in the wilderness, the serpent they looked at was just for those who were bitten by that serpent, those who were struck by missiles couldn't look at the serpent to live, those who were oppressed by the devil, couldn't look at the serpent for deliverance, those who have leprosy couldn't look at the serpent for a cleansing.
But for the whole dignity of man to be restored, we must lift Jesus up and believe in Him. We must look to Him and believe that He alone can restore the dignity of man. And we don't just look unto Jesus for a temporary life, no, we look to Him for the life that never ends.
We don't also have to wait till we are bitten by a serpent before we start looking unto Jesus, we can look unto Him now as the Author and Finisher of our faith. It will be beneficial now to lift Jesus up and look to Him for an identity, even if your identity is lost, you can trust Him for a restoration. These words may sound like rhymes but I think there are truths therein.
LOOKING INTO THE PERFECT LAW
"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 word, this one will be blessed in what he does." - James 1:25
Another matter of note as regards the mirror is the looking itself, it is not wisdom to turn the back to a mirror, and we look at the mirror also to correct that which we can see. A person who is looking at Jesus must continue looking, you must have an obsession for looking at Jesus, just as some people are obsessed with the normal mirror, anything that can reflect their image, they take time to look at, even if it is a tinted glass of a car or a window.
Just like the normal mirror where we have to do the correction while looking, the transformation that comes to us while looking unto Jesus is directly proportional to our doing of the word. Jesus is the Word of God and He too is the perfect law of liberty.
If you look unto Jesus today, you may not like what you see at first, as it may reflect all of your sins, your weaknesses, your pains, your anger and many other secret sins; but if only you will continue in that perfect law of liberty - you can be sure that the scar will be gone, the dark spot will vanish and you begin to reflect the bright glory of God.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14
How we need to see the truth and be free, how we need to behold this glory as in a mirror through the continuous doing of the word. When we behold His glory we find our true identity and we are no longer deceived by the mask of the devil. The scripture clearly states that the Word has become flesh, so Jesus is not an abstraction to be imagined, no, He is already made flesh for us to look.
They say pictures don't lie, but we know that with the advent of photoshop and the likes, pictures can lie and that would be deception, but I know for sure that mirrors don't lie. They tell us how we really are if we don't have any mask on (maybe makeup is a mask). That's the same thing that happens when we behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, it tells of our true identity and also offers hope of rubbing His glory on us.
There are degrees of glory, that is why the opening scripture states that we transformed into His image from glory to glory. If you keep at the word, that is in doing it, you will keep moving on a continuous progression of glory and it's all for your good.
DON'T FORGET WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE
"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." - James 1:23-24
The scriptures is totally loaded anytime any day, the scripture states that the man who does not continue to do the word is like a man, who just observes his natural face and forgets what he sees. It is somehow instructive to everyone today, how many just observe their fallen nature when they take a look at Jesus, but they really do not do anything about it. In fact, when they look, they think there is something good about them, they see the hope of becoming better, but end up forgetting what they saw; just because they won't just do the word.
The best way to be transformed into His image in glory is to do the word. It is not by mere speaking in tongues or trying to give an impression, it is in the doing and continuous gazing into the image of Jesus. Don't forget what you saw, whether you saw good or bad, don't forget that you saw the possibility of glory that you would be transformed into, why not continue therein.
Many times when we see the possibility of what we can be, especially when the pastor brings it to light, we are often wowed by the possibility, but staying in the word by doing the simplest things becomes problematic...we must stay in the word doing, and by that Jesus transforms our lives in degrees of glory.
NO SHAME IN THIS MIRROR
"They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed." - Psalm 34:5
The person who have looked to Him like a mirror knows no shame at the end of the day, such a person encounters the light of His glory and surely want to keep on gazing unto Him. I have surely looked at Him through His word, I have caught a glimpse of Him through His presence when I worship, I have started experiencing a level of His glory...how can one like me be ashamed.
The encounter of the Mount where Jesus was transfigured is another awesome experience of His presence. A life of shame can be transformed in a split second if a person would believe in the Lord of glory. The glory of the Lord is available to all who would look steadfastly at Jesus. It got to a time Moses had to ask the Lord to show him His glory; and the Lord gave Him an experience of a lifetime.
Moses was the Pastor or prophet at that time and people couldn't look at his face, today God has given us the access to even look at Him directly as one looks at a mirror, the grace of Jesus availed us the opportunity to experience His shekinah glory first hand. Don't let the shame of the past make your head bowed, just look at Him and watch your shame pass.
That woman who they wanted to stone in John chapter 8, would have been so ashamed of herself that she would have preferred that the ground opens up; but when Jesus gave her a glimpse of His mercy, all her shame was gone in no time, it was those who accused her that left the place in shame. She looked at Him and got mercy, her face became radiant through the joy of obtaining such mercy. Please look at Him.
CONCLUSION
We all need to gaze at Jesus to experience His glory, let the veil be off, keep your gaze at Him and you will know no shame - glory is what happens when we behold the only begotten of the Father.
God bless you and I love you
Akinsuroju Femi
© The Fundamentals
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