Let us take a peep into God’s looking glass.
An ordinary mirror is for the purpose of showing us exactly how we look. It will show up rough hair or a dirty face; but if all is right in our appearance it will also make it known.
In some tailors’ shops, long mirrors are so arranged that by a double reflection you can see how your coat fits at the back as well as in front.
Now, God’s looking glass does not take into account so much the outside of the man but the inside; not the body so much as the heart. God’s mirror shows up the heart and also the thoughts and intents of the heart. What a wonderful mirror that must be!
I have seen mirrors that change the appearance of a man and make him look bigger, or taller, or broader than he really is. But God’s mirror is not like that, it always shows us exactly as we are, and therefore it is entirely reliable.
Do you know what God’s looking glass really is? It is the Scriptures, the Word of God, and it is such a true and wonderful mirror that although we may see boys and girls whom we have never met before, yet we know something about the thoughts and intents of their hearts, because the Scriptures reveal them. As a mirror will show a black mark on the face, so the Word of God will show up a sinful heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I, the Lord search the heart.” Jer. 17:9, 109The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9‑10).
None of us like to look in a mirror that shows us such a sad picture as this, but thank God it also shows us how we may be made fit for His presence, so that His eye cannot see a single spot and stain of sin.
A woman once looked at a photograph of herself and exclaimed, “What a fright.” But the photographer, not liking his work to be colained of, replied, “It is exactly like you, madam.”
Although that man could touch up the photograph, he could not take away the wrinkles that were upon her face. God’s mirror first shows us our guilt, and then points out the remedy.
God knew that we could no more remove one of our sins than the woman could transform her appearance, so He provided a way whereby we may be justified from every trace of guilt.
He has sent Jesus to die for us, to bear our punishment, to atone for our sins; and now all who put their trust in Him as their Saviour, receive the forgiveness of all their sins and are “justified from all things.” They are no longer afraid to look in God’s looking glass, because they know that a certain text of Scripture is true of them which says, “Her sins, which were many, are forgiven.” Luke 7:4747Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. (Luke 7:47).
ML 01/10/1954