Mirrors

Mirrors are great. If they hadn’t been invented, the world would be a very ugly place.

On top of that, there’d be overcrowding at local ponds as people scramble to catch a glimpse of their own reflections in the water. We’re all familiar with road rage. I suspect a new form of rage would emerge—‘reflection rage’.

Mirrors have been the subject of folklore for centuries. Why? Because there’s a dash of self- love in all of us.

In Greek Mythology, Narcissus, an extremely handsome young man, fell in love with his own reflection in the waters of a spring. He could not draw himself from the pool and eventually died from thirst and starvation.

It is little wonder that people obsessed with their own image, you know them—the ones that take selfies at every opportunity—are called narcissists.

Our fascination with mirrors is also reflected in the scores of songs that have been penned and sung over the years. 

In Justin Timberlake’s song Mirrors, the chorus ends with

And now it’s clear as this promise

That we’re making

Two reflections into one

‘Cause it’s like you’re my mirror (Oh)

My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me.

Mirrors was written for his wife, Jessica Beale, and the music video was dedicated to Timberlake’s grandparents who were married for 63 years until his grandfather passed away in 2012.

“Mirrors is a love song to someone that you feel like is, you know, your sort of other half and it became a play on that.”

“. . . in a relationship . . .you two can mirror each other and be the other half of that world that you both create.” Justin Timberlake. Reference: Genius.com

Consider the chorus in Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror

I’m starting with the man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Reference: Genius.com

Even just a quick glance at the lyrics to these songs highlights the fact that a mirror can serve a higher and nobler purpose than merely reflecting an image.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew women which left with the multitude out of Egypt brought with them mirrors like those that were used by the Egyptians.

According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary, these mirrors were made of mixed metal, mainly copper that was polished. The mirror itself was round, inserted into a handle of wood, stone or metal that was embellished.

A mirror would have been a prized possession for any woman within that culture.

Yet, in Exodus, there were certain women who gave up their mirrors for the construction of the tabernacle laver. The laver was a basin used by the priests to wash their hands and feet.

Exodus 38:8

And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

If God were to ask you today to surrender something you valued, would you (as these Hebrew women did) be willing?

Maybe God’s asking you not to lay down a mirror, but a false image of yourself, to give up pretending to be something you’re not.

Change is possible.

As we direct our attention to the Lord himself, as we gaze in wonder at the glory of our God, as we surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will reflect his glory. We will become like Him.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

And that, my friends, is the best change of all.