My dear friends
A sermon on Radio Khwezi recently got me thinking
about mirrors. Mirrors? Yes, mirrors.
Most probably you have also heard stories of people's
first encounter with a mirror. Admittedly some of them sound more like legends.
The one I like most is that of a man who discovered a
mirror and was fascinated by it. He obviously liked what he saw in it and kept slipping
off to the secret place where his newfound treasure. His wife suspected that she had new
competition and decided to find out who 'she' was. One day she surprised him; there he was
smiling at some object. She grabbed the mirror and to her dismay she saw the beautiful
woman who had stolen her love's heart. She just had to break the news to her mother. The
old lady had one look into the mirror and exclaimed in horror, "Of all the women that
could have lured my son-in-law why should it be this ugly shriveled old woman?"
Dr James Dobson of Focus on the Family recounts the
moving story of a young fighter pilot whose plane caught fire. By the time he ejected he
had suffered severe burns which even after surgery left him badly emaciated.
In a surprisingly selfless move the young woman he
was engaged to assured him that that the accident had changed nothing - just a few
millimetres of skin. True to her word she married him.
The young man was deeply moved by his wife's love and
devotion. He confessed to her, "You've become my mirror. When I look at you I get a
smile back that tells me that everything is alright."
In my six years of facing the Motor Neuron Disease
monster I have discovered that I can do without a mirror but my wife's face is the mirror
that tells me that I am handsome, loved and wanted.
The preacher on Radio Khwezi told a very interesting
story about a woman who was obviously convinced of her beauty. One day someone gave her a
mirror. What she saw did not impress her at all. She protested, "This thing has made
me ugly!"
We may laugh at the primitive woman's reaction but
many wealthy stars and celebrities after looking at their mirrors dash for expensive
'corrective surgery' procedures.
Going a little deeper, in a way, the Word of God is a
mirror that makes us ugly. As we face its truth we cry out in despair like Paul,
"What a wretched man I am!"
(Romans 7:24)
The good news is that as we submit to God's Word we
are washed and changed. In fact our Lord told His disciples that the word that He had
spoken to them had made them clean.
Some have remarked about the effects of a cleansed
life on the face. The beauty within is reflected on the face, regardless of the natural
physical features.
Rev Erlo Stegen of KwaSizabantu relates an experience
from the mid-60s at the beginning of the revival in Maphumulo. A sangoma (diviner) came to
them with an urgent need. She confessed that she was bound by the chains of hell. Her
desperate question was if Christ could set her free. A great spiritual battle ensued as
darkness was confronted by the light. At some stage the sangoma looked and acted like a
ferocious animal. The demonic forces had vowed to keep their ground but as the Christians
sang and prayed the fire of the Holy Spirit was too much for the evil powers. They left
their abode with a loud cry.
Rev Stegen describes how the burdened face of that
old sangoma suddenly relaxed and shone like that of a saint who had sat at the Lord's feet
for years.
God through His Spirit performs such instantaneous
miracles but the ongoing miracle takes place when we as Christians submit to the Lord
completely and spend time in His presence. As we dwell before His 'mirror' we reflect His
glory are increasingly being transformed into His likeness.
"And we, who with unveiled faces
all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Have a blessed week.
Pressing on!
In His love
Fano Sibisi
