What do a mirror, a bathroom scale, and the Bible have in common? They all tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. A mirror tells you the truth about your appearance. A scale tells you the truth about your weight. The Bible tells the truth about God and about you. A mirror and a scale tell you the truth about the outside. The Bible tells the truth about the inside.
There are times, of course, when you really want the truth from a mirror or the scales. If you’re headed out on a date, or for an important meeting after lunch, you really, really want the mirror to tell you about that piece of broccoli stuck in your front teeth and threatening to ruin your entire evening. If you are working on a health conscious diet and exercise program and are concerned for meeting personal goals, you really want the scales to support the success of your efforts.
But, sometimes, the truth from the mirror and the scales can be less than flattering. When you wake in the morning and look in the mirror and there, staring back at you, is someone you hardly recognize with graying or receding hair, baggy eyes colored in dark circles, and disheveled hair that leaves you looking like Jabba the Hutt’s little pet critter, well, at that moment you might wish the mirror could lie. But it can’t. It is the nature of the mirror to reflect the truth, like it or not.
The Bible serves a similar function with a similar nature. By design the Bible reveals God’s truth, the truth about Him and the truth, from His perspective, about all He has made, including each of us. The Bible tells us that the God who made us for His purpose is good, is love, and is compassionate and merciful. That’s welcome news in which we rejoice. But the Bible also tells us that God is righteous, God is holy, God is just; and that’s all well and fine until we read in the Bible the truth about us.
About us the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” About us the Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” About us the Bible says, “Each shall appear before God and give an account of the deeds done in the flesh.” Suddenly, like stepping on the scale just before you try on that summer bathing suit and finding you’ve gained 10 pounds, the truth is less comfortable than we might like. The picture seems not complimentary but condemning. In that moment, the truth hurts.
So what can we do? Listen, just like cleaning the mirror won’t change the essential image it reflects; just like refusing to look won’t change how the scale reads, we can’t change what’s true by attempting to change or deny what the Bible says, either about God or about us. You won’t get the broccoli out of your teeth by throwing away the mirror or lose 10 pounds by debating the scale. If you want to see a different you, then you have to change you. If you want to step on the scale and weigh less, then you have to take action, eat less, exercise better, and make changes.
God’s truth in the Bible reveals what is. If you want to see what is differently, then it is not the truth that has to change; it is you that has to change. You have to take action relative to the Bible’s truth. And faith is the action you can take, relative to the Bible, that changes everything.
The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God promises that when we believe, when we take Him at His word and put our trust in Jesus, that He will forgive us and give us eternal life. The Bible says, “The gospel [the good news about Jesus] is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” Faith is the action that makes the Truth Good News.
Want to see a different person in light of the Bible’s truth. Put your faith in God and learn to live by His word. The difference will be remarkable.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Pastor Kris Garey, Trinity Lutheran Church, Hovland.
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