Mirror Mirror

In the beginning, God created man; He created Man, male and female.

I ruminated humorously and engaged my mind ardently. I wondered if God had eyes like mine or skin as dark as mine. Did His hair curl or His beard reach the floor?

Everyone must look the same if we all look like Him. I even debated the resemblance between a stranger and myself. We are all in the image of God, I thought.

To be created in His image must mean that He looked like me. Us.

As the days grew longer and time stretched further, my hovering mind concluded that even the way I spoke and acted should also have a resemblance.

If God is good, then I must be too. So I tried to be good. I soon realized that goodness was more than an action. I could see that I was acting like something I was not.

Then I grew older and could see more clearly the depravity that man is. I searched my heart like scriptures, only to find corruption and death; the resemblance was uncanny. Even the good I thought I had, could barely balance the scale of sin that weighed on my soul.

All through the Holy book were weak voices of men that screamed for help. I was one of them. Every turn of the page was another man in need of rescue as I was.

Like Adam who disobeyed God, I too was a son of disobedience because the law states that everything will reproduce after its kind.

God sent Adam and Eve out of Eden for their disobedience. What does that say about me?

Genesis 6:5 reads, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

One thing is clear; the heart of man is wicked. Therefore, the goodness of God cannot be personified through the nature of sin.

The goodness and holiness of God revealed an imperfection that I had inside. Through the cracks, I could see that I looked more like a man than God.

So, who then was made in the image of God?

I already had a demanding requirement for the wages of my sin; I had a debt to pay.

Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:29; Matthew 5:48; Colossians 3:10.
All these scriptures point to Jesus being the image of God and not the image that I thought. Yes, He had ears and eyes like me but He didn’t have a heart like mine.

That was deep and extraordinary. It all pointed to a spiritual image which made more sense than I had assumed.

God is spirit and anyone that worships Him must do so in spirit and truth. My mistake was thinking God is a man.
The words of Jesus cleared things up for me when He said that he who is born of flesh is flesh and he who is born of spirit is spirit (John 3:6).

I look like my dad because I came from his seed. To look like God, I must come from His seed, Jesus.

This was the clarity I needed. Believe this man who lived as He spoke. A man whose life revealed power and holiness. His depiction of God was spot on; a perfect resemblance that was beyond physical appearance.

So I tell myself, “Work out your salvation. Let your outside match what’s already inside.” The nature of sin has been replaced with the nature of righteousness. Now the good works that I do, don’t seem forced or out of place. It is simply who I am.

Jesus said, “I do what I see my Father do.” He had a mirror. Now I do what I’ve seen Jesus do:

In the laying of hands, casting out of demons, and even response to hypocrisy and lies. His patience in difficulty, obedience to instructions against His desires. He was sold out to God.

How I react to hate and rejection. When I’m in the face of opposition. What to do when all my senses drive me to fear and anxiety. How I act in this world is by the reflection I beheld in the mirror.

I beheld a mirror whose image is a man with a smile that pierced this cold heart and pumped life into it.

I beheld a mirror with the power to transform me from the inside. A view without distortions.

These eyes that have pondered at murky waters finally saw something so clearly.

The man Jesus is the image I beheld.
Silver hair could not make up for the ignorance I had been living in.

When God sent me out of Eden, the plan was always to redeem me through Christ.

For something to be beautiful, it will go through the fire. Beauty for ashes; my sin for His righteousness. A beautiful exchange that I could spend a lifetime over, repaying.