Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all?
Alas, fairy tales always have a good lesson for us to learn in life. Don’t they? This week’s reading in
Genesis takes us through the favor of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We
see how God’s favor bestowed enormous wealth to his faithful but flawed
servants, so God could build his nation to carry the bloodline to our messiah;
Jesus Our Lord.
Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7, Genesis 22:1-12, Genesis 22:13-18, Genesis 25:19-34, Genesis 28:10-22,
Genesis 30:25-36, Genesis 30:37-43
Understanding the true nature of God’s favor in our lives
can transport our spiritual lives to the deepest ends of the water where we can
find rest in the abundant life of Christ; even during our darkest days. But beware of the mirror on the wall because
it will lie to you causing you to crash onto the rocks.
I’ve heard that God’s favor is called His ‘demonstrated
delight.’ While in the Old Testament God’s favor was bestowed to selected
people, we in the new covenant are privileged to live in God’s favor when we
believe in Jesus as our Lord and repent from our sinful ways. Favor is like God’s grace of undeserved
kindness and forgiveness, and then goes the extra mile to reach down in the
muck of our black sins over-and-over again to save us from ourselves. The
intent is for us to discover that all of God’s favor has been given to us the
moment we believe.
A friend once told me of his visit to a family in
Lebanon. Late in the afternoon the
four-year-old son heard his father’s car come into the driveway. Excited to
hear his father arriving home, the little boy jumped onto the sofa to look out
the window joyfully exclaiming, “Abba! Abba! Abba!”
As the father walked into the home, the little boy ran to
his father jumping into his strong arms. The father kissed the boy’s face and
said, “I love you more than my eyes! I love you more than my eyes!” Again, the father smothered him with more
kisses and said again and again, “I love you more than my eyes! I love you more than my eyes!” In return, the
son kissed his father back with delight.
Favor is receiving the full force of God’s love with
kisses to our face who says to us, “I love you more than my life! I love you
more than my life!”
- Favor is the good shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to save the one.
- Favor is rescuing the extortionist named Mathew to become his follower.
- Favor is saving the adulteress from being stoned to death to become a saint.
- Favor is liberating the murderer named Paul who became the greatest Apostle of them all
- Favor is the loving father who forgives his prodigal son and says everything he has belongs to him.
But beware of the mirror on the wall for it can deceive
and destroy you. It destroyed King Saul,
Judas, the Pharisees, and the brother of the prodigal son. Most people are on a
path from pride to humility, from self-centeredness to selflessness, from
self-hatred to self-acceptance, from holding grudges to forgiveness. They
gaze into the mirror to see pride, fear, apathy, guilt, shame, or disgrace and
then they project a god into their own image who is despising, condemning,
punitive, vengeful, or indifferent. Blind
to their own ways they cannot see past themselves, or the mirror, to see our
true God. Sadly, they treat themselves
and others in the same fashion. God has
become a reflection of their flawed nature.
As mature Christians we have looked past the man in the mirror
to see Abba kissing our face saying, “I love you more than my life! I love you
more than my life!” By receiving the full force of God’s favor, even in the
midst of our sins, all we can do is desire to kiss him back with the full force
of our love and our kisses. Even when I’m doing sinful things, my God loves me
in return with kisses. By receiving his
favor, I only want to love him more. In this truth, God’s favor calls us to
love Him, to love ourselves, and to love our enemies.
By living in life union with Jesus (John 15:7), we know
his living streams of love pour through us, so we can pour that love and favor onto others. As mature Christians, we must
tolerate the weakness of those in the family of faith, so we can shatter through
a person’s mirror to display the full force of God’s kisses. The abounding favor of
God has been given to us all to discover and to share; revelation by revelation.
The Apostle Paul teaches us in Colossians Chapter 3 the
way to breach through the mirror, so other believers can experience and taste
the favor of God with his kisses.
12 You are always and dearly loved by God!
So, robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to
be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be
compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable
in your patience with others. 13 Tolerate the weaknesses of those in the family
of faith, forgiving one another in the same way you have been graciously
forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you find fault with someone, release this same
gift of forgiveness to them. Col. 3:12-13 (TPT)
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