A House with No Mirrors

 

While on vacation recently, we stayed at a house that was being remodeled.  As part of the remodeling, all of the mirrors had been removed.  Imagine that, a house with no mirrors. There were no visual reminders of ME, which was so therapeutic.  I’m not sure I could defend this with Scripture, but I bet the mansions in Heaven don’t have mirrors either.

o   Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

 

Things to think about:

·       When I look into a mirror, by definition, I am focusing on myself. 

o   I take in my overall appearance, see how I’m aging with my wrinkles and gray hair, key in on the flaws my eye is naturally drawn to, how do my clothes look, my physical condition, etc.

§  Sometimes I’m OK with what I see, other times not so much

·       In a house with no mirrors, I found I stopped worrying about (even thinking about) “how’s my hair look?” or “how’s my paunchy stomach?”

o   It was liberating to stop caring about stuff that didn’t really matter

·       According to our verse, to the extent we do think about ourselves, it is to be with humility and with an accurate understanding of ourselves as God allows us to understand

o   A mirror can be used for preening or pruning!

 

·       Thinking less about me gave me the time and space to think about other, more important things like:

o   God’s creation

o   God’s Word

o   My spiritual condition (as opposed to my physical appearance)

o   My wife and family

o   Other people

·       Hebrews 12:2 – “…  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

·       Psalm 123:1-2 – “I lift up my eyes to you,
    to you who sit enthroned in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he shows us his mercy.”

·       Philippians 2:3-4 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”