Who is that Old Woman?
I've never been a fan of mirrors and now that I'm older, I really don't like them at all. This morning I stood face to face with myself and scrutinized my hair, my skin, my weight and everything else looking back at me. I wondered who that old woman was? She had my blue eyes and coppery colored hair, but who was she? My mind tells me that I am 20, but my body and appearance tell me otherwise. Then, as I do, I started to think about what we see compared to what God sees.
Does He still see that incorrigible goofy 10 year old who daydreamed constantly? She is still there, just not as goofy or as impossible as she once was. Does He see the 20 year old who thought she was in love with a man who would solve her lonliness? Does He see the overweight woman of 40 who hated everything about herself and saw only her failures? Or does He see all of me, beginning to end, good, bad, and ugly? Or maybe He sees something else entirely.
As I drove to work a little while later a song on the radio answered my reflections. The song was by Mercy Me "Flawless". I had to laugh. God is always there ready to answer me when I have questions and in the most amazing ways. I have copied the words right below. See if this doesn't make you smile. It made me laugh and I just had to thank God for how amazing He truly is every single day.
There's got to be more
Than going back and forth
From doing right to doing wrong
Cause we were taught that's who we are
Come on get in line right behind me
You along with everybody
Thinking there's worth in what you do
Then like a hero who takes the stage when we're
On the edge of our seats saying it's too late
Well let me introduce you to amazing grace
No matter the bumps
No matter the bruises
No matter the scars
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
No matter the hurt
Or how deep the wound is
No matter the pain
Still the truth is
The cross has made
The cross has made you flawless
There is more to the song and I challenge you to go listen to it. It is reassuring to know that for those who trust Jesus as their savior God doesn't see all that junk that we see. He sees Jesus, who is flawless. We have put on faith and that faith covers us with the image of Jesus. The cross has made us flawless, or rather the one who hung on that cross and paid our ransom has made us flawless.
Of course then I was reminded of a verse that has always puzzled me. Seems God wasn't done revealing truth on my morning drive. 1 Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." Are you laughing yet? This might sound weird but I never really understood that verse until now. Well duh! We see the reflection of our earthly lives, and many times are disappointed. We only see what is on this side of eternity. But God knows us on the other side of eternity and we will see ourselves as He sees us, perfect because of Jesus.
MIND BLOWN!
I can't believe it was that simple! But wait, where is this verse found? Ironically enough in the famous "LOVE" chapter! Not only that but right before the last verse in the chapter which is a biblical mic drop moment if ever there was one.
Verse 13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Imagine Jesus on the other side of the reflection in the mirror, smiling back at us with compassion knowing that when God the Father looks at us He no longer sees our flaws and failures, He sees Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. The one who is worthy. Can you see Him smiling even as we look at our own lives through the lens of this world and are disappointed? He knows what awaits us and is fired up with excitement! Giddy I tell ya! I can feel the joy even now. I feel it when He shares these little tidbits of glory with me. I feel it when I walk and pour out my heart and He showers me with flowers from the crepe myrtle trees. I feel it when a song like Flawless comes on the radio and the mystery of the reflection is dropped in my lap like a dozen squirming puppies!
This is not our home. This is the place on the other side of the mirror, which someday will be dead to us. We will be alive and will finally see what God sees in us, Jesus. My pastor told a story last sunday about when he overheard his older son talking to his younger son about what it means to accept Jesus as your savior. The older brother said, "it's like you have this old dirty coat on and when you believe in Jesus you take it off and put on a new perfect coat that Jesus gives you." Kind of a cool way to look at salvation, but seriously, the picture is pretty much what God sees - you, dressed in the righteousness of Jesus. "Out of the mouths of babes", as the saying goes.
Then he said something else that I never thought about. He said, "at the resurrection Jesus will present all of us as a love offering to the Father, then the Father will turn around and offer all of us back to Him as a bride spotless." Wow!
So, while I will still look at myself in the mirror and see a stranger with a million flaws, God looks on me with love, grace and compassion because He sees his son and the payment for my sin. That payment was enough to bring me into fellowship with the creator of all things. This is why I can have these moments which lead to the writing of so many blog posts. God is pouring out His blessings and I am without words for how grateful I feel.
Imagine Jesus just Imagine Jesus.
All that he went through to bring us back to our father. I am so unworthy of any of his suffering, but I am so grateful and cannot wait to see the Gini that God sees. Now that is what I call love.
1 Corinthians 2: 6-16 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
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