I have often joked that, in my eighth decade of life, I’m a lot younger from the neck up than I am from the neck down. Until I catch my face in the mirror! Where did those lines come from? And what about those age spots? I look down and wonder who stuck an old person’s hands on my wrists. Ugh.

Two thousand years ago, Roman poet Ovid wrote: “The time will come when you will hate the sight of a mirror.”

Standing in front of a mirror can be revealing. Standing before a spiritual mirror, examining our walk with the Lord, is critical. Chronological age is of little importance if we have not used our years to grow in our relationship with Jesus and in our understanding of His Word.

Dr. Henry Blackaby often wrote about the importance of looking in the mirror to assess where we are on our spiritual journey and what our life’s priorities should be.

“Jesus taught that your highest priority must be your relationship with Him. If anything detracts you from that relationship, that activity is not from God. God will not ask you to do something that hinders your relationship with Christ.”

It sometimes takes a long look in that mirror to understand what the Lord wants us to see. James says it takes more than just a quick glance to fully grasp what God is saying to you in His Word.

For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

James 1:23-25 NLT

Self-examination is an important part of our spiritual lives. Mirrors call us to take an honest look at ourselves, recognizing both our flaws and our virtues. God’s instructions continually remind us to assess where we are and strive for improvement. This journey, this looking in the mirror helps us become more like Jesus.

The Psalmist could have been standing in front of his spiritual mirror when he wrote:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24 NLT

Socrates is credited with saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” That’s true. We can avoid looking in the mirror of our lives and never own up to where we are spiritually.

If I forget what I look like in the mirror, ignore the fact that my body is aging, and try to do something the “young” me could do, I will likely pay the price.

If I pay no attention to my spiritual self and do not see whether I am becoming more like Jesus, others will pay the price.

Use that mirror. Be the best “you” you can be. More importantly, use the spiritual mirror, God’s Word, to see how you measure up to being like Christ in all you do and say. The more you resemble Jesus, the more others will be blessed through you.

God’s best,