Some people live their lives of faith as if they were watching a football game on television. Who in your life do you know that screams at the television, berating the referees for a stupid call, or chastising players for bungling the play? Is it you?
Perhaps, you are a political being, muttering “idiot” under your breath when you hear your political opponent opening their blabber flaps. Admittedly, “Blabber flap” might not be a real word, but you get the point. Some people, maybe the majority of us, walk through our daily lives in constant critique of others and their stupidity.
And, when we open the Bible, we can easily use it to perpetuate this mindset.
You hear that God looks down on fornicators? Well, you have a good idea of a couple of people that God is probably talking about.
You hear Jesus speaking against the self-righteous? Well, you know of a stuck up jerk who should probably open their Bible and read a little more carefully.
The Bible can be used like the poor, screamed at television. It can be used as a document that puts evil on display for you to scream at and belittle.
But, the Apostle Paul wants you to set aside this hostile television-like experience of reading his words and instead read them as if you were looking in a mirror.
When I look in the mirror, I do not think about the pimples on my cousin’s nose and chastise him for his looks. No, when I look in the mirror I think about the outbreak upon my own nose.
“Do not be conformed to this world,” Paul tells us. Rather, “be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
This is about looking in the mirror. This is about looking closely at ourselves and realizing in what ways we are conformed to this world.
In what ways is your life trapped by the ways of this world? Do people’s political alignments dictate your idea of them? Do you make assumptions about them because of their political associations? If so, you might be conformed to this world.
When you describe the problems of this world do you talk about “them” and what “they” do to ruin the world? Do you have a habit of lumping people into a generic category and so that you can easily dismiss them? If so, you might be conformed to this world.
Do you think primarily of your own rights and your own needs? Are you easily taken aback when help is provided to someone else but not to you? Do you fail to think about the rights and needs of others? If so, you might be conformed to this world.
Do you primarily pursue your own lusts and desires without much thought concerning how it will affect other people? Is your day spent focusing on your own worries rather giving attention to the worries of someone else? If so, you might be conformed to this world.
You might be conformed to this world. No, I said that wrong. It is not true that you “might” be conformed to this world. Paul is convinced that we, his readers, are already conformed to this world.
The plain fact is that if you were born into this world, you are conformed to this world in some way; if not in one of the ways that I already listed, then another. To be a human in this world is to be conformed to its ways. If we were free from the influence of the world, we would have no need of a savior; we would have no need of Jesus Christ and his redeeming cross.
But, through the power of God’s grace in our lives, Paul is convinced that your mind can be transformed again and again, every day, to focus on the will of God. And, what is the will of God for our lives? What would we hope to see when we look in the mirror?
Paul proposes that we would stare in the mirror at the end of the day and see that we had used our bodies as a living sacrifice. We would see bodies that spent the day working hard at loving others first, the same way that Jesus loved us first and put us first when he went to the cross.
We would see muscles building up that have been strengthened by flexing love rather than being strengthened by our desires.
We would see a person looking back from the mirror who does not think too highly of him or herself, but also does not think too low of him or herself either.
Just because you are not perfect does not mean you are trash. Paul wants us to look at ourselves in the mirror with “sober judgment.” This “sober judgment” that Paul talks about is a special ability to look in the mirror and see yourself truthfully. You are not God’s gift to the world, but at the same time, you kind of are.
When I look in the mirror, I see that I have been gifted with the ability to write songs and play the guitar for the benefit of building other’s faith. Am I the greatest church musician? Not even close. To think too highly of myself would be a lie. But, to think too low of myself would also be a lie. To think too low of myself would mean that I probably would not share my gift. I would bury my gift and it would be wasted. That is not good either.
Instead, we look at ourselves soberly…truthfully…and act in ways that are consistent with the level of faith and abilities that we have been given.
You too have been given gifts by God. Whether it is diagnosing and revealing the truth like news reporters on a large scale or therapists on a personal scale; ministering to the needs of people like health care workers, childcare providers, or elder care specialists; teaching other people skills like school teachers, or teaching others the faith like pastors and faith educators; exhorting and encouraging others to follow Jesus; giving food or time or money; leading people in right ways; showing compassion on the lowly and sinful; and the list goes on and on; God has given each of us gifts that are to be used to share God’s grace, to share God’s forgiving love, and to create God’s world of blessing.
Look in the mirror and see someone who needs a little work.
Look in the mirror and see someone who is loved anyway.
Look in the mirror and see someone who has an appropriate amount of faith to do the amazing work that God desires you to share.
Look in the mirror and see someone who is an integral part of Christ’s body in the world, along with all of God’s other gifted people. No one part of the body is greater than another, but neither are any parts disposable. All parts of the body are needed; and though someone in your past may have led you to think otherwise, you too are a needed part of Christ’s body.
After-all, you have been redeemed by God through the blood of Jesus’ cross for a reason. And, that reason has nothing to do with perpetuating the division and hatred that the world embraces. Rather, yours are the hands and feet that deliver the good news of God’s grace to the people of the world in your own, unique way.
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