Looking in the mirror, at my age, can be a disappointment. As a woman I am always caught up in trying to look my best. However, as we age we tend to wrinkle, gravity has won the tug of war with body parts, and we wish we were younger.
Getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth, getting makeup applied, and getting dressed calls for multiple checks in the mirror. Eventually you give yourself the nod, or accept the bad hair day and walk away. Then as the day goes by our perception of ourself leads the way. The wind can come along and blow our hair, we could drop mustard on our shirt at lunch time and not know, or we could sit on something and walk around with it stuck to our pants. Suddenly our appearance is not our perception recalled from the last look in the mirror. What is funny about that is that if we don’t look in the mirror we have to wait until someone else tells us how we look.
We could look spectacular at forty. I don’t want to offend anyone, but even if someone whistles as we walk by, there is still the way we dress our heart to consider. More important than our physical appearance is the appearance of our heart. We need to wake each morning and look at our heart in the mirror of God’s word. People are not just looking at what we look like on the outside, but what our heart attitude tells them about the inside.
Even God looks on our heart and not our appearance.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
How do we check the appearance of our heart? We look at it in the mirror of God’s Word.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:22-25 NIV
Just like we take our perception of what we looked like in the mirror with us through the day, we have a perception of our heart issues. We really do not want others to be the ones to find that spot on our heart from that ugly attitude we stepped in. We don’t want the wrinkles of bitterness, unforgiveness, hate, or judgement to show. We need to iron them out with the Word of God. We can’t do that without a look in the mirror of Jesus.
I love how Anita Renfroe says, “I have apple bottom jeans cuz I sat on a core.” It is part of her song In the Muthahood that is in the video I am attaching for Mother’s Day. Our kids really see what is in our heart more than anyone. If you are not a Mom, then I bet there are children in your sphere of influence. They can see our heart before they see our jeans. It is important to dress the heart the right way. Please forward this to other mothers so they can enjoy the video this weekend. We may have apple bottom jeans because of a core, but our heart can be dressed in Jesus! Nothing is more attractive than that. ❤ Melinda
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Another Samaritan Woman 