Mirror of the Soul
Originally scheduled for July 25
Most of us have a mirror in our homes. We accept it as a
normal part of our household; we use it to look at ourselves – but then what?
Do you look and say, “I can’t be that fat?” Or do you say, “I’ve got to start
dieting some day?” Some of us get to say, “The diet is working!” Others say,
“The Rogaine is not.”
Communion is a mirror of the soul. You are to examine
yourself, look in the spiritual mirror. Do you look at yourself at all? It’s
not easy:
·
Most of us want
to “let sleeping worms lie,” as C. S. Lewis put it. We’d just as soon skip the
self examination part – because we don’t like what we know we’ll find.
·
To avoid this,
some of us will repent – of other people’s sins. We can safely repent of the
way American Indians were treated in the 19th Century, for example.
We feel truly sorry, really we do.
·
Of course, if you
prefer contemporary sins, you can certainly spend the time examining other
people’s sins and deciding for them that they should repent.
All these are simply ways of refusing to look in the mirror.
But suppose you do look, what do you see?
·
Do you see
someone who says, “I can fix this myself?” All you need to do is launch yet
another self-help campaign, and surely things will be just fine – later.
·
Perhaps you see
something else: someone who knows that it’s hopeless. It doesn’t matter if
you repent, you think; the sin will return. So why bother?
·
Perhaps it’s just
procrastination: you acknowledge to God that someday, perhaps even soon, you
will repent. Just not now.
Just what should you be doing? The steps are simple: look
in the mirror and,
·
Admit that there
is a problem – with you. You are a sinner; the only real question is what
particular sort.
·
Ask forgiveness.
All sin offends God, the Innocent One. He is gracious to forgive, but you must
ask.
·
Ask for help. He
loves his children, and wants them to turn to him for help.
·
Commit to
action. Saying that you need to go to the gym regularly is not a substitute
for exercise. This is not an academic exercise.
The mirror may be denied or ignored; it may give rise to
self-deception. Or it may show us what needs to be done – and move us to do
it.
