The Looking Glass

If you awakened and gazed into the mirror and God allowed you to see yourself as He sees you, would you like what you see?  Would you see an image of Christ Jesus, or would you see a sin-stained corpse?  Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, or does it appear in the volume of records?

If you could look into Heaven, would you see that you have laid up treasures there, or have you done so only here? Have you been like Solomon and wallowed in vanity and sought only pleasures and things, or is the desire of your heart and the labor of your efforts to please and serve the Lord?

Are you like Demus and do you love this world more than following Christ, or are you like Paul forsaking everything to serve the Lord?What is it you see in that spiritual mirror? Is it Christ that you love with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul and strength, or is it something else?

Maybe you have an idol (or several) and are worshipping a false god and listening to false prophets because they make you feel good and never cause you to feel conviction. Maybe you are appeasing physical and emotional desires rather than hearing truth and being perfected. 

I am not speaking from a place of piety but from the place of experience. I came to salvation at 35 years of age. For years I fed my flesh and served myself. I sought worldly things and earthly satisfactions. All of these questions come from what I have lived in the past, from experience and the scars of repeated failure. I have realized the truth of the Holy Word of God and its great contrast to the will of man.

So many people wander around believing they have been saved yet having no desire to serve, giving no thought to God through their day, and, in a sense, walking in false confidence. It is easy to find ourself on a spiritual seesaw experiencing emotional highs and lows.

Many go to church and are moved in their emotion but never in their soul, only to find themselves in lows of depression as the wolves of this world chase and gnaw on them through the week. It is an easy place to find ourselves: torn between the flesh and the spirit.

Satan plays on the emotions of us all and his mission is to seek and destroy, to consume the hearts of men, and separate us from our Lord.

When we find ourselves on the spiritual seesaw, we must do as Christ spoke of the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. We must return to our first love and do the first works, and this will steady our spiritual lives. Our first love in our spirit is Christ and the deep love we have for Him having paid the debt of our sin, and the first works are praise and worship in thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus.

Peering into the looking glass of our soul, we should see a reflection of Jesus rather than the echoes of worldly desires. For years, I have taught that when you look in the mirror, you are seeing a vessel that houses who you truly are. The question is not whether you like the flesh that you see, but rather, does your spirit appear holy and acceptable to God?

Throughout my life I have heard many say, “I have accepted Jesus as my Savior.” Tell me this—how does the lost little lamb accept the shepherd? Is it not the shepherd that accepts the lamb? Is it not the little lost lamb that is vulnerable and in fear? Would the terrified lamb refuse its salvation when it was crying out in fear?

Many have a salvation experience that consists only of repeating a so-called prayer. Let me be very clear, it is not words that get you into Heaven. It is not utterance that brings salvation; it is a plea from the heart of a lost soul.

As a little lamb that has realized it may be devoured at any moment, and there is no one or nothing there to help other than crying out to Christ the Good Shepherd, it is the realization of the lost state that compels us to call out to Christ’s redemption.

The conviction of our sin brings the understanding of being condemned and the deep need for salvation. In John 6:44 we are told that no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws them. Have you felt the call? Are you denying Christ for some reason? Perhaps hanging on to things of this world that are only temporary? Our focus must be on the eternal.

We prepare for storms, and we put our seatbelts on when we drive. We prepare our homes for children and guests, check smoke detectors, spend time training, take CPR courses, have our vehicles inspected, and so on.

It seems we spend an inordinate amount of time on safety in the physical realm, but we often neglect the spiritual, and it is the spiritual that is eternal. We will be in Heaven or Hell far longer than we are here. Isn’t it worth our effort to prepare?

If you have not been saved, then I pray you hear the call of the Father, and if you are saved, I pray you go back to your first love and do the first works.

“Lord, empty me of me, so I can be filled with you.”

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple