I like to think of myself as a sensible person. Except I do a lot of things that are not sensible. For example, when I am making some macaroni and cheese, I know the box says four servings, but my heart says one.
Sometimes as motivation I reward myself before I accomplish something. I like to call it a “preward”, and it 100% does not work. I know for a fact that the stuff I ordered online will not bring me lasting happiness, but I am more than willing to conduct that experiment four to nine more times just to be sure. Am I the only one who does these things but still consider myself a sensible person?
Read The Plans God has for you!
Please, someone, anyone, stand with me. I can do dumb things or things that only make sense to me and still consider myself to be a sensible person because I know who I am in Christ. When I get up every morning and look in that mirror I see a flawed person. Someone who needs to be worked on every day. I make mistakes. I fail. I succeed. I get up and I try again.
When you look in the mirror what do you see?
Things are really tough in these United States at the moment. We are in the midst of an entire movement to stop the oppression and mistreatment of minorities in America. Wherever you fall on that spectrum of who is right and who is wrong, you are involved.
COVID-19 is still a threat. The economy is headed in the wrong direction. We have one of the most important elections happening in November. There are murder hornets flying around and sports are nonexistent. When history classes look back on the last five years it will read 2015-2016-2017-2018-2019-2020 (volumes 1-8). The year 2020 has a lot to unpack, and we are just in the first six months.
What do you see: Faith in Action
I am in the group of wondering where I fit in all of this. The Bible says that if you just hear the Word but are not a doer of the word then you are just like a man who looks into a mirror and then walks away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-25).
This is a very straightforward verse. We do not get to pick and choose what part of the Bible we are going to follow and leave the rest for other people. For example, you cannot say you have the love of Christ in your heart and are a Christian and then see someone get hurt by people in authority and turn a blind eye and not speak up about it.
By not making a choice you are making a choice. You cannot be on your job and see a minority, a lesser employee, a woman, a mentally challenged person being abused, and you just stand by because it is not happening to you or doesn’t affect you. What type of person do you want to be?
I want to be the type of man that I do not need the cheers from the crowd to feel like I accomplished something. When I see someone who society considers weak and less than, I want to help them with every fiber of my being. And when society boos my actions, I can say with all the confidence God gave me “Your boos mean nothing, I have seen what makes you cheer.”
What do you see in the mirror?
I do not want to be part of the in-crowd if the in-crowd is the problem. When I look at myself in the mirror, I want the worst thing I say about myself is “I really need to do some pushups!” I do not want to work at a job where my values and principles are compromised every day. I do not want to know that I am making my kids and my wife worse off than before they met me. I want to get to heaven and hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
There are two things I am convinced of:
- We have not done all that we can to find the best way to package flour.
- No matter how old we are it is never too late to change into an even better person.
An Honest Self Assessment
It starts with taking an honest assessment of yourself and to see where you are lacking. What are you serious about? It cannot be all about money, status, cars, house, fame, these things pass away. It must be about who you helped to become better.
Did you treat someone who society looks down upon with the utmost respect? Did you sacrifice and give without expecting anything in return? Did you love someone who did not love you back? Did you encourage, uplift, comfort, forgive, and feed God’s people?
If you look in the mirror and cannot say you did any of these things lately then it is time to reevaluate. It’s not the “enemy” it’s the “inner-me” that fights against us. Self-evaluation is so important. Self-care is not selfish, but it does have a limit. Take the log out of your own eye before you can start helping others. Once you figure yourself out, helping others becomes that much more fun and rewarding. Ask yourself seriously, what do I see when I look in the mirror?
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
