Proverbs
27:19 “Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors
your heart”.
Here is a simple simile, a comparison made by “like”
or “as.” In the way a man can see his face and know its features by reflection
in water, so a man can know and understand other men through having a similar
heart. Your experiences in life should give you the discernment and
understanding to help others when they face similar circumstances.
Just as gazing into the
mirror-like qualities of a still water-pool reflect the detailed features of a
man's face, so the standards and qualities residing deep within a heart,
reflect a man's character and display the innermost caliber of his soul. Face
express the same.
Too often we are quick
to identify the qualities, or criticize the defects we see reflected in the
life of a fellow believer, but often we are not as swift to identify areas in
our own hearts that need to be critically analyzed and spiritually evaluated as
unholy or detrimental to our spiritual growth, offered-up to the Lord, and
purged.
God alone knows a man's
heart and can read the secret thoughts in the inner depths of his soul, but it
is the outworking of those concealed attributes, which are demonstrated through
words, actions, and attitudes, that manifests a man's true identity to his
fellow-man.
Reverence and respect
towards our heavenly Father, a Christlike love towards others, and inner peace,
is often identified through the godly works, pure thoughts, and sound speech,
that flows through our daily life. It is the inner heart that identifies a life
that is walking in spirit and truth. It is careless speech, a critical
attitude, thoughtless behavior, and an unrighteous lifestyle that warns us
that we have fallen from grace and strayed from the path of peace. Corrupt
hearts breed corruption, while a sanctified heart exhibits Christ-likeness.
Man's countenance is
frequently an index of his thoughts, and the fruit of his attitude of mind is
often displayed in his words, his ways, his will, and his walk. As a man thinks
so is he, and whatever becomes the central focus of that man's mind, influences
his attitude of heart and is displayed in the out-working of his life, "As
water reflects the face, so the heart of man reflects that man's
character."
Ambitions and emotions,
temptations and trials, hope and fear, inner thoughts and expectations,
together with spiritual strengths and weaknesses, can all be reflected in the
face and mirrored in the expression of the eyes. It is often as we openly gaze
into the reflection of our own face, through the mirror of God's Word, that we
can identify areas that need spiritual adjustment and God's forgiveness.
How important to
examine our own heart and scrutinize our inner thoughts, through the
mirror-like qualities of a still water-pool and to reflect whatever is good,
and pure, and wholesome, and holy.
The Word of God is the
truthful mirror into which we should look carefully. The Bible is the still
water-pool in which to gaze day by day - for the face of Christ is the
reflection upon which our hearts should rest.
May we preach this
truth to our own hearts and be doers of the Word as well as hearers of God's
truth. May we all... with unveiled faces, gaze at the glory of the Lord... as
beholding HIM in the mirror, so that we may be transformed into His
glorious image, from glory to glory - through the power of the indwelling
Spirit of the Lord - as we die to self and live for Him.
My Prayer
Blessed Lord and
Father, what wonderful truths are contained within Your Word. I pray
that I may learn to keep the eyes of my heart fixed upon Christ, and to
daily search the Scriptures more faithfully, so that I may learn more of
You and increasingly reflect the Lord Jesus in all I say and do.
I pray that my
life may be a mirror-image of Him, that I may only say the things that He
has taught me, and only do those things that honor Him, so that His grace, and
love, and care, and beauty, may be seen in me and flow out to others. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.
God bless you
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