By Mike Summerlin,
Pastor, Oakland & Manning Chapel UMC
Like most of us, I expect you have had a lot of “stay at home” time these past couple of weeks and that situation is not about to change for some time to come.
I would hope that some of you have taken this time to dig a little deeper into God’s Word for God’s people, the Bible.
This morning when you got out of bed, did you look in the mirror? You probably took a shower, got dressed, brushed your teeth, and ran a comb or brush through your hair. In other words, you took a good hard look at your reflection in the mirror and then took steps to change your appearance for the better.
The Lord’s brother James said the Word of God is like a mirror. “ Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” (James 1:23-24)
When we read the Bible, it exposes what is really in our hearts, sins, our shortcomings, the areas of life where we need to repent. It’s often not a pretty picture; most of us don’t want to confront our hypocrisy, our compromises, our complacency. But when we do, God is able to perform his merciful, loving work of transformation in our hearts.
The Bible is God’s gift, a love letter if you will, to us. He wants us to look more and more like Jesus each day. When we look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s word, we can see where we need to change—and we allow God to re-align our hearts with His. So today, when you pick up your Bible, look in the mirror-spiritually speaking-and allow your Heavenly Father to show you how you can look more like his Son.
Allow the water of God’s word to wash over you, and the Holy Spirit will begin to replace the shortcomings of your life and replace them with the love and peace that only our Heavenly Father can provide. As you obey the word, God changes your heart and purifies your soul. Let His Word wash over you today.
