The other day, I saw some gravestones on Facebook, that had friends names, and birth and "death dates and causes" fictitiously posted, so I accepted the app and allowed it to create one for me as well. Well, it said that I lived 96 years and died by looking in the mirror. Anyway, that got me thinking (actually it got me laughing hysterically, but then I got to thinking.)
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| Potential gravestone! |
When I look in the mirror, what do I see? Do I see the same thing others see when they look at me? Or more? I have heard it said that the eyes are the window to the soul. I am not sure what this phrase means, but I do know that no one who looks at me, really sees what is inside my soul. Only God and I know what goes on deep inside.
So who is this man in the mirror? Why would looking in the mirror kill me? And the most important question of all, how does this relate to Christianity? I shall attempt to answer and relate all these questions together in the lines that follow.
The Bible states that every inclination of man's heart is evil from childhood. Genesis 6: 5, 8:21. Note in the context of these passages it is not singling one particular man out, but emphasizing that we are all evil from childhood. In the New Testament, it states that there are none righteous, not even one. Romans 3:10. Fortunately for me, other people cannot look through my eyes and see the depravity in my soul. Nor can I look into your eyes and see the depravity in you. It is generally through our actions and words that we are judged by others. However, there remains the mirror. When I look into the mirror, I can look at my reflection, or I can look deeper. Sometimes it scares me to look deeper. Maybe someday it will kill me, but for now, not really.
Fortunately, for the Christian, there is forgiveness. It is not that we are better than others, although we SHOULD be, given what we have been given by our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus forgave us by the shedding of His blood. He willingly paid the debt that we had for our sins. He did ask us to stop sinning, so we really should. We should do as Christ asks, esp. since He has done so much for us. "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does." James 1:23-25
The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984). Jas 1:23-25.
So to wrap this article up, let me say that although looking in the mirror will not kill me or you, it should cause us to think of what is happening in our hearts and double check our motives. We should evaluate our lives as we begin the year of 2012 and ask ourselves if we are doing what God wants us to do, or merely gazing at our reflection in the mirror and forgetting what we look like when we turn away?
Interesting ruminations. Greek mythology, which had an influence on Christianity, also had important stories concerning mirrors. Of course, the best known concerns Narcissus.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in how it is perceived that Greek Mythology influenced Christianity, and specifically how that applies to this post.
ReplyDeleteNarcissus is clearly implicated in your discussion of mirrors. Unlike the Bible, Greek mythology offers such reflections. The Greek myth is a clearer link to your ruminations.
ReplyDeleteAs for the influence of Greek mythology upon Christianity, I was mainly thinking of the importance of negative influence. So much is defined by that it seeks to exclude. The book of Acts offers a scene in which Paul specifically addressed Greek beliefs and claimed to have something to offer in reference to an oblique dedication that he had seen in the city. I thought you would be immediately aware of that reference as a Bible student.
On the other hand, there is the fact that the New Testament was composed and preserved in the Greek language. It is impossible to separate a language from the belief systems that grew alongside that language, and that were the dominant beliefs of those speaking that language. By carrying forth the beliefs and principles of Christianity in the Greek language, the beliefs of the ancient Greeks are always already lurking in the margins.
The negative influence upon Paul in that brief passage in Acts, thus, takes on more profound significance. It is a topic well worthy of your informed ruminations. Look around and perhaps you'll find that there are many ponderous tomes that have been penned on the subject. While most would certainly expound upon the negative influence--how Christianity is distinguished from the mythology of the Greeks,--it would not surprise me to find that one or two such tomes might argue for a positive influence: some forgotten borrowing of a shared truth.