Mirror Image

I heard a friend bemoaning her entrance into middle age, "I look in the mirror and I don't like what I see." She was speaking of some silver that was "streaking" through her hair. But what a prevalent attitude she expressed, one so obviously rooted in the world and the flesh: we have to look good, we have to look young. Every form of the media hits us with it daily, but what a terrible trap it is! Often we are so blinded by the temporal that we can't see the eternal. Not only can we not yet see God in his glory, we can't even see the deep and untapped worth within ourselves. As long as we are on earth, we must stay in these "dust and ashes" bodies, provided to exist in this environment. But she (and most of us) has unfortunately and mistakenly equated her body with her self. Just as prisoners count the days until their release, we should see that time is our friend, time is on our side. Age, the accumulation of days, actions, and experiences are our "ticket out of here!" It will bring about our release, our escape. And what then? What I have hoped for since childhood when my parents first told me of heaven, and I was able to see it with the faith and clarity of a child. It will be nothing less than a return "home," a recall from exile, a release from the "prison" of body. If we try to use our allotted years in His service, not only do we have nothing to fear, but we have everything to gain -- a return to our Father and a place in His eternal home.

Proverbs 27.19 - It is your own face that you see reflected in a mirror, it is your own self that you see in your heart.

James 1. 23-25 - If a person justs listens and doesn't obey, he is like a man looking at his face in a mirror; as soon as he walks away he can't see himself anymore or remember what he looks like. But if anyone keeps looking into God's law, he will not only remember it, but he will do what it says, and God will greatly bless him in everything he does.

Corinthians 13.12 - We can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at his reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see him in his completeness, face to face.

Romans 8.10 - If Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you, because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die.

Proverbs 31.25 - She is a woman of strength and dignity, she has no fear of old age.

Psalm 39.4 - Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here but for a moment.

Psalm 90.12 - Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.

1 Peter 2.11 - You are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls.

Hebrews 11.13,14 - They agreed that this earth was not their real home but that "we're just strangers visiting down here," they were looking forward to their real home in heaven.

2 Corinthians 5.6 - Now we are looking forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies, realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus.