Bad mirrors disturb me. FaceTime clearly lies. That box in the corner reflects a fish-eye view of my bulbous nose. Surely I don’t look like this! The mirror in an airplane bathroom reveals scales and blotches I’ve never seen before. Is this reality? The disdain in the eyes of someone who opposes me reflects only my failures. My deficiencies are all he shows me. I walk away from these mirrors with a deflating lack of confidence. Surely no one could be drawn to this visage! I need a better mirror.
We have one in the Bible. The seventeenth-century pastor and poet George Herbert delighted in the word of God. He opens his poem “The Holy Scriptures (1)” with ardent affection: “Oh Book! infinite sweetnesse! . . . Precious for any grief in any part; . . . Thou art all health.” Herbert goes on to compare Scripture to a mirror that does more than reflect. True, we see ourselves clearly in the word; it reveals more flaws than we can imagine. But at the same time, Scripture changes us. This mirror makes us better the more we look. Herbert writes,
. . . look here; this is the thankfull glasse,
That mends the lookers’ eyes: this is the well
That washes what it shows.
The truth-telling mirror of Scripture exposes and composes us. Imagine a mirror that would make you as appealing as you could hope to be. Imagine a well of clear water that not only reflected but washed you clean of dirt and blemishes. When we read Scripture with open hearts and in reliance on the Spirit, that’s what happens.
Let’s look at three ways this encounter with Scripture becomes a transforming mirror.
1. Mirror of Conviction
The flaws revealed by those wretched airplane mirrors are nothing compared to what we see of ourselves in the Bible. It takes a lot of courage to peer into this looking glass of truth. Hebrews describes how Scripture works: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
There’s a good reason we avoid reading the Bible when we know we’re not living according to our calling in Christ. The word fillets the soul. Full light shines on the ugly truth of my motives. I’m caught worshiping false gods. My double heart cannot be hidden under a Christian facade. Everything comes to light in Scripture’s truth.
For instance, this verse regularly nails me in traffic: “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Or, amid the busyness of all I want to get done, these words of Jesus stop me in my tracks: “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:45). The mirror of Scripture peels away pretense and shows us the truth about ourselves.
Hebrews goes on, “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). There’s no more realistic sight of the human condition than what we get in the looking glass of God’s word. We might well be tempted to keep this mirror draped with a sheet, or at least under a stack of magazines. But the mirror of Scripture also shows me in a light I desperately need.
2. Mirror of Redemption
The Spirit uses the sight of my reflection in Scripture to strip away my prideful self-sufficiency. When I see myself in the prodigal or the angry elder brother, in the faithless disciple or the judgmental Pharisee, I know that I cannot live a God-pleasing life on my own. The word peels away the illusion that I am in control and reveals my helplessness, all so that Christ can show me what I look like united to him.
If you’ve ever worked your way through the book of Romans, you know this movement from conviction to redemption. The first three chapters show me as a suppresser of reality, foolishly exchanging the truth of God for a lie (Romans 1:18, 25). In this mirror, we all look pretty much the same, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). I see myself truly in the word, an enemy of God and his purposes for humanity. But as I keep looking, I see Jesus reconciling me to God through his death: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8). There’s no cleaning up my image with a divine Zoom background. Rather, there is a costly, realistic atonement.
When I look in the mirror of Scripture, I get re-visioned. The image of me transfers from a lonely sinner, isolated by my own choices, to someone joyfully in communion with Christ in all his righteousness. I see myself incorporated into Jesus. I am a member of his body, connected to all the others who are also in him (12:4–5). This new sight of myself fills me “with all joy and peace in believing” (15:13).
3. Mirror of Transformation
The mirror of Scripture also propels us on the journey of being made more and more like Christ, our sanctification. We become like what we look at. For instance, I love being around joyful people. Their laughter and dancing eyes and constant hope make me view life that way. I smile more and love more when I see a face that reflects such love. So when I look at Jesus prayerfully through the word, I see what we were meant to be. He shows me more than I am in myself, but in such a way that I can participate in all that he is.
Here’s how John describes it:
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. . . . Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1–2)
When I read these words, I see the image of a beloved child held by the Father. Scripture reflects back to me that I belong to God. It also shows me that more is coming. One day, I will see Jesus in all his glory — power and humility, meekness and majesty. “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Gazing at him with clear sight, I will become like him. Similarly, Paul expresses elsewhere,
We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. . . . For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6)
In Scripture, we look upon Jesus. As we look away from ourselves to all that Jesus is and does, we get changed from the inside out. Jesus is a mirror for what we are meant to be and all we will be in him.
Scripture’s Glass
We look in the glass of Scripture and see ourselves with terrifying accuracy. But if we keep gazing in faith, we see ourselves taken into Christ. He is mending us as we look at him in his word. We are being made into his likeness.
Herbert concludes his poem with one more metaphor. He says about Scripture, “Heav’n lies flat in thee.” The heights of Christ’s heavenly glory are contained in the flat pages of a Bible. We go up to Christ in Scripture only when we go down before him in humility. The mirror that mends is “subject to ev’ry mounters bended knee.” In repentance, I let the first reflection from the word move me to cry out for grace. Then I discover how my image gets cleansed and taken into the glory of the Savior’s face I see revealed in Scripture.
