It is easy to look around us and see things we don’t like. Maybe they are the high prices, tensions between people and countries, a changing culture, a hatred for law, or people who don’t keep their word. We may say, “I don’t like what I see,” but we feel there is nothing we can do to change things. Other times, we can do something, but we neglect to get involved. We do not give the time and effort to make a difference.
The same is often true with pictures. I can remember many times when I was younger (and even still today), looking at a picture of myself and saying, “I don’t like what I see.” There my hair looks weird; I look fat; I was not smiling; or I was squinting. When I complained, my dad would often say, “The camera only takes what is in front of it.” It was not the camera’s fault. The camera just revealed what I looked like at that time. Sometimes we have the same response when we look into a mirror. We do not like what we see, especially in the morning after just getting out of bed! But the mirror just shows what is in front of it. If we do not like what we see, we should not blame the mirror. The lady looking into the mirror should brush her teeth, comb her hair, cover up the wrinkles, smile, or do what is needed to improve that reflection.
The Bible compares itself to a mirror. Maybe, like me, when you look into the Bible, you say, “I don’t like what I see.” Do not blame the Bible. It is perfect! It is just revealing the problem in your heart that needs to be corrected. Maybe you need to change that attitude, get rid of those wrong thoughts, trust the Lord in your situation, confess and forsake your “pet” sin, or choose to love others as yourself. The Bible shows you the problem, and you must decide to let God help you to remove that problem from your life. Determine to change that reflection, so when you look into the mirror of God’s Word, you see a heart completely surrendered to God and His will. “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein,… this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25).
