Look in the Mirror

1 Peter 2:9, Colossians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 12:7

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So if you look in the mirror, what do you see? How do you think about yourself? And when you enter a room, what do you bring? What do you have to offer? What can the world see in you?

Now, on the one hand, what do people see and what should we see? We can see that we we’re imperfect.

We have sinned in different ways. And so when we enter a space, do we bring that sin with us? Do we do that sometimes? Yeah.

Is everything that we contribute to a group of people going to be positive?

No.

But that’s not all we see. Think about 1 Peter 2:9.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [1 Peter 2:9]

See, when you look in the mirror, you can see that you are someone who was in darkness, and yes, we still have things sometimes that we do that match the darkness, but you’ve been chosen. You’ve been called out. You have been brought out of the darkness into God’s light.

When God the Holy Spirit sparked that faith in your heart, that is a faith that believes that Jesus entered into the darkness for us, that he took our sin from us, that he died on that cross and rose again to give new life to us. And so now, through faith in Christ, you are a person of light.

And when you and I enter a room, and we enter that room as someone who, yes, we were part of the darkness, but that’s not who we are anymore. When we are honest about how we have fallen short, but confident in how Jesus is everything that we were meant to be, when we celebrate him and can have full confidence that God is with us today and has given us life for eternity, we proclaim his praises in a world that is dark.

We are people of light in a world of darkness, and when you go wherever you go, you bring that light with you. Not only that, think about what Colossians 3:10 says. It describes how we have

put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in knowledge, according to the image of its Creator. [Colossians 3:10]

We were created to be in the image and the likeness of God, to be able to live in a way that showcases his character, his goodness, his love. And you and I now, by the power of the Spirit, are being renewed in that image. God the Holy Spirit gives us little glimpses of what we were meant to be. And when we live our faith, when the Spirit moves through us, we are actually bit by bit being renewed in the way we live, that we actually start to live in a way that starts to look like God, which means then when you enter a room, when the Spirit works in you, the people around you can actually catch glimpses of God too. Not that you’re God. Don’t want to make that confusion. But when God the Spirit renews you to begin to live like him and to live in his image, you actually start to show the world the image of God, of what God looks like.

And then think about this one, 1 Corinthians 12:7.

Each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [1 Corinthians 12:7]

Manifestation describes something that is seen, that is visible, right? So 1 Corinthians 12:7 says that each person has a way that God the Holy Spirit is visible. So when God the Holy Spirit empowers you to live out your faith, to use your God-given gifts, actually the people around you as you are using those gifts, as you are living out your faith, are catching glimpses of God the Holy Spirit working through you.

So what do you see when you look in the mirror? Beyond the sin and those things, those broken things, of course we see those things, but actually those are not the primary things that you and I should see. Because you were in darkness, but you’ve been called out now to the light to proclaim him, to show his light. You are being renewed in his image. The Spirit shows up in you. That’s what you can begin to see, and actually when you enter a room, you and I, we can have a sort of humble boldness, humble audacity even, that not that I’m thinking, “Oh, look how good me,” but actually the very opposite, that when God the Holy Spirit is working in me, whether it’s proclaiming the gospel, whether it’s the Spirit moving through me, that actually the world can catch a glimpse of God as God works through me. That’s what you bring into a room.