He Has You

If you want to change the world, then start with yourself.

No man or woman can look at their reflection in the mirror of God’s Word and think themselves somehow better than another. The Holy Spirit can reveal many truths in God’s Word to us, but there is one truth that is most fearful of all, and that is the truth of what is really in our heart.

The most frightening mirror that I have ever dared to peer into is in that of Holy Scripture. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12).

There have been times where I think that I am getting further along with God and start to think of myself somewhat higher. I will have overcome something great and consider it quite an achievement. But then all the Lord must do is shine the light a little brighter, and I see all the dust and dirt in the rays of light.

Rarely will a person see their own hypocrisy reflected in the mirror. “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin” (Psalm 19:12-13 NLT).

Growing in our faith is growing in our understanding of the depth of our own depravity. We must learn how truly corrupt and wicked we are at the core of our being. So long as we refuse to let the Lord reveal this part of us, we remain in that pleasant delusion of what some worldy mirror may want to tell us.

It is only in the mirror of Scripture that we can see ourselves as we really are and receive the vision of all we are meant to be. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right” (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT).

Whenever I see another Christian looking down on me, I know that they have not yet peered into the mirror of the Holy Spirit. So few will dare to look into that mirror. It is a mirror of pain and a mirror of remorse. It is a mirror nobody wants to see, but everyone should.

Pride reveals pride, and sin reveals sin. The thing we see so wrong in another is the very thing that is in us. “Some of you accuse others of doing wrong. But there is no excuse for what you do. When you judge others, you condemn yourselves, because you are guilty of doing the very same things” (Romans 2:1 CEV).

When we see ourselves as we really our it will be there that we have more compassion for others. When we see how low we are, we cannot look down on another. When we see our own depravity, we will not judge someone in theirs. Nobody looks in this mirror and remains the same as they were.

It’s a full-time job dealing with your own faults, so stop focusing on everyone else’s. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit does not reveal yourself in the mirror to ruin you but to mature you. Nobody can mature in their faith until pride has been properly dealt with. Self-righteousness is the worst pride because it parades itself as if it were holy. There is nothing holy that starts with self, but only God.

Self-righteousness cannot exist before a Holy God. The prophet Isaiah wrote about when he was before a Holy God, “I was frightened and said, ‘Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God… But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful’” (Isaiah 6:5 ERV).

The revelation of your depravity in the mirror is not to leave you in it but to set you forever free from it. But you cannot be set free from prison until you realize the prison is there. The prison walls are made up of prideful stones and the delusions of the mirrors of man that leave a soul covered in sin.

So long as you focus on the wrongs of others, nothing in you will change. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

I can always tell if someone has peered into this mirror by the way they look at me. Nobody who has seen this mirror has come away prideful and arrogant. Rather they have become filled with grace and mercy because when they see themselves, they discover all that Christ did for them on the Cross.

Love is not shaped like a heart but a Cross. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NKJV).

It is the arrogant and the prideful who think somehow the Blood of Christ is needed in greater supply on someone other than themselves. Nothing can be further from the truth. The more prideful the soul, the greater mercy it will take to redeem it.  

Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom to knock the pride out of themselves. “…The higher you lift up yourself in pride, the harder you’ll fall in disgrace” (Proverbs 16:18 TPT).

Child of God, ask the Holy Spirit to hold up the mirror before you. Dare to peer into the truth of God’s Word, and see all that it might tell you. Dare to peek into the mirror of truth that it might show you everything that needs to change in your life today.

If you want to change your life, let Him. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 RSV).

Blessings to you,

Paul