Quoting Pat Morley in Chapter 2 – “To see ourselves as we really are, we must acknowledge our inability to do so without God’s help.”
How do you get ready for the day? Does it involve a ritual (long or short) in front of a mirror? You can shave without a mirror, but you may miss a spot or leave yourself looking a little uneven. Do you need something reflective to show you that your hair isn’t quite right? Or after lunch, isn’t it a good idea to take a peek in the mirror to make sure nothing is left behind in your teeth?
Quite often we can neglect this look in the mirror in our quest to identify who we really are. We assume that with no objective checking we can just figure ourselves out and fix ourselves. God, in his infinite wisdom, created you and knows you better than you know yourself. He has graciously offered to help us identify ourselves -our true selves. But then he goes a step beyond simply identifying the problem and offers to help us fix things.
So what are we waiting for men? Let’s let surrender to God, look to him for help and let him start re-identifying us. Let him show us who we are and who we can be.
Trust me. He is a good barber, so give him the blade, sit back and watch the man in your mirror come to life as God wants.
Man In The Mirror is a book by Patrick Morley. Follow along with Pastor Gabe Moore and the men of Calvary Assembly of God in Crystal Lake, IL as we read through this book together and discuss some of topics facing men today.
Hi Guys, The mirror and “look at the fish” illustrations are simple, but powerful illustrations. As Pastor Gabe noted, one of the first things we do in the morning is to look in the mirror. Likewise, one of the first things growing Christians do in the morning is go to Scripture and prayer. “Looking at the fish” drives home the need not to merely casually look at the mirror, but to really make a study of what is there, so you can actually act sensibly on careful observations of yourself based on God’s word. I would say that all my Scripture reading over the years has utterly and profoundly shaped my worldview, but of course I am easily polluted every day by what I see in the world, so I need to look at the mirror everyday to keep the old self and the worldly self down. Erik, if you are more of a listener than reader, thankfully today there are many audio Bibles available, and a myriad of podcasts of good teaching available. I love to listen to Moody’s The Land and the Book podcast. It has a great mix of interesting information about Israel and its history, Bible teaching, and advice about how to witness to people from different cultures, and of different religions. Anyway, if you pick carefully, there is a lot of great audio material out there.
Thanks for the information it is much appreciated. I have tried to use it as an excuse it is something that I need to change as I look at myself in the mirror. As an adult I need to change all of my child like behaviors just like I didn’t like my mom to force me to eat my veggies which I can’t get enough of now. I have challenged myself to change my habits of just coming home from work and turning on the idiot box but instead be in the word and also read this book. I have not been able to put it down it’s amazing how God works in our lives when we truly seek him I look forward to reading this book and possibly making me a reader of books in the future