A Reflection on Reflections

Clever title though, isn’t it? I’d hate to admit how long it took me to come up with it… The answer is embarrassingly long. But all of the cleverness in the world doesn’t help make sense of what I mean, and so we are left with the question. What does it mean to reflect on reflecting?

Think with me for a minute here. When you stumbled out of bed and made your way to the bathroom this morning (hopefully) to brush your teeth, you may have looked up and seen yourself in the mirror. Or perhaps you took the time to check the mirror to see if your hair was presentable before you left your house. Or perhaps you glanced in the rear-view mirror to back your car out of the driveway on your way to work.

In each instance reflections gave you a fairly accurate, if limited, picture of reality. That is, fundamentally, the purpose of reflections - to present a limited but accurate picture of the parts of reality that you can’t normally see. That’s the goal of the mirror. That’s my goal with these reflections I write. To present a small aspect of a difficult truth in an approachable way.

But more importantly, it is also the goal of every Christian.

Or at least, it should be. Paul lays it out for us, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1 my emphasis). In essence, he is telling the Christians of Ephesus, “Hey, Christ has forgiven you of so much, therefore, forgive each other. Love each other. Then people will get a glimpse of Christ’s love towards you!”

Present a picture of the reality that Jesus Christ has worked in you.

Be a reflection.

This is the foundation for good works! This is why Christians ought to be known by their love! Not because it needs to be done by us, but because it has already been done to us. We love because we are first loved. We forgive because God has so perfectly forgiven us. We practice generosity because God has dealt so abundantly with us. We obey our parents because Jesus himself was obedient to his Father, even to death on a cross. In our flawed sacrifices of time and money, we point to God’s incredible sacrifice of his own son. In our failing attempts to love those opposed to us, we hint at the reality of God saving those at war with himself.

We reflect.

James puts it this way, “...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22-25).

Whew, okay that was a big quote (not really, but there was a lot to it). Let's break it down, and see what this means.

James’s big idea seems like a no-brainer… He basically saying, “Hey, actually doing the commands we see in scripture is really important!” My instinctual response is likely a, “well no duh!” But the more we consider who James is writing to here, the more convicting and applicable this is for us saints today.

Because we see in the first verse of his book that James is writing to Jewish Christians.

That's right, the same people who grew up abiding by the many and varied laws of the old testament. The same people who added their own laws on top of the original laws, so that they wouldn’t even come close to breaking those original laws. If there is one thing you can be sure of in the historic Jewish people, it’s that they didn’t have an issue of not doing good deeds. If anything, their issue was that they became far too legalistic in their pursuit of doing the law.

So what is James trying to tell his audience?

James uses an illustration to get his point across. It goes something like this... Imagine waking up in the morning and going to a mirror. You look up and see yourself, and you recognize what you see. That is your hair, and your nose. Those are your teeth, and in my case, those are your awkward ears. That’s how tall you are. That’s what you look like. That’s you.

Then you leave your bathroom and immediately try to eat the cat food.

Wait, what?

You’re a human, you don’t eat cat food. You just saw yourself, and so you know what a human looks like. You know that humans eat human food, not cat food. You saw who you were, but still acted like something you were not. You didn’t reflect reality.

A Christian who is not increasing in holiness and the pursuit of good deeds is far more bizarre than a human eating cat food. You have been given a new nature! In Christ you are no longer a sinner, but a Saint. You are in Christ and He is in you! Shouldn’t your life reflect that reality?

Paul says that we have been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). Prior to God’s work of regeneration in our life we reflect the realities of the law of sin and death. The world we live in even now reflects these realities. Sickness and decay surrounds and envelopes us. But once we have been made one with Christ, we are free to no longer reflect that realities of sin and death, but now are to reflect our position in Christ!

That's why when the question “should Christians should just continue in sin and rely on God’s grace?” is encountered, Paul responds with a resounding “By no means!” He simply asks, “For how can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2). “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4, my emphasis). We are to walk in a way that shows our new life.

And so the question then becomes, do you reflect reality?

Does your conduct at work display the salvation that you have been given? Does your ‘love’ shown towards others online reflect the undeserved love shown towards you in Christ Jesus? Do your efforts here and now reflect the reality of your future home with Christ?

This is normally the part where I put my own reflections down in ink and talk about how big a challenge this has been for me personally. And don’t get me wrong, it is a challenge. A huge challenge. But I don’t want this challenge to stop with just me. Instead I’m making you, dear reader, a challenge.

Reflect on reflections.

Take the time.

Do it. Write it down.

Reflect on what, or rather, on whom you reflect.

And as you do so, let me leave you with these verses which have been an incredible blessing for me during my personal time of reflection.

“...let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2).