THE FACE IN THE MIRROR

Mankind is flawed and most of Christendom is flawed because we haven’t individually realized and dealt with the flawed depravity of our nature.  Our hearts are out of control with self-absorption. And we have not tasted the good word of God, or partaken of the Holy Spirit, or submitted to the Lordship of Jesus, allowing His nature and character to glaringly illuminate our flawedness. We are all flawed, from the corrupt politician to the pious Sunday school teacher... we are all flawed.  True life-giving, God honoring change must start with the face in the mirror... we are all broken.  The soul was not designed for brokenness, we were supposed to be good, all of us... we were supposed to be good.

All this is flash rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;

I talk of love - a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek-

But, Self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

(C.S. Lewis)

So here we sit, comfortably swinging in our cage, reciting church doctrine, and having no idea what we are saying... and we talk of love.  The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: life is a story about me.  No drug is as powerful as the drug of Self.  No rut in the mind is as deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, and all people are characters in my play.  There is no addiction as powerful as Self addiction.  Jesus told us what we must do to experience His transforming life: “Deny yourself” and “take up your cross daily” and “follow Me.” We deny Self by nailing it to our cross daily... dying daily to Self’s self-interests, then we carry it for all the world to see. Only in death can the nature of Christ and the light of His love shine through... this is what they see... they see His love! If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to the desires of the face in the mirror... die to our Self, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.

AND THEY WILL KNOW WE ARE CHRISTIANS

BY OUR …