“Now we see through at glass, darkly, but then face to face” I Cor. 13:12. As the door flew open from my Pantry (my sanctuary, His sanctuary) and I moved out into the realm of His Desire, my heart was filled with the weapons of love's warfare and I was ready! Or at least I thought I was ready...
A strange wind blew through my life that caused me to faulter in my step for a moment. Actually, it was the sound of the enemy once again, but this time the voice carried the gentle creeping tentacles of guilt and fear that began to wrap themselves around my heart. Fingers were pointing at me, cries carried my name, desires and demands were being thrown my way. These fingers, cries, desires and demands began to paint a gray shadow that hung over that colorful field of God's desire that had initially opened before me. I looked at those perpetrating the onslaught of this divisive, manipulative outcry and realized something about us all ... that was very broken. It would not be fixed in a moment, and it would not be the task for sluggard nor the faint of heart. This would be a challenge for the love found in the Sanctuary.
The outcry seemed to cascade from “my” choice between two mirrors in which to gaze. One mirror stood upright and was immediately before the face of the gazer. In this mirror I could see the immediate perception of my pitiful state of affairs and gain a callous(but false) realization that nobody around me truly cared. My family and my peers all seemed to be preoccupied with their own mirrors; and when I would turn from mine to look at them, they appeared to have an abundance of things that I needed. This mirror immediately caused whining and complaining in my soul. Praying was negated by an overarching “woe is me” and a grave desire to blame others for not seeing my obvious need, which surely could be taken care of by their abundance.
The other mirror was very strange (I almost tripped over it!). To look into it you had reposition yourself to look down, and the clearest vantage point was from a kneeling position. It was a little uncomfortable because it made it hard to look anywhere else but into this darkened obscure mirror. Those who gazed into it on their knees would soon be found with tears of joy falling from their eyes, and sighs of gratitude pouring from their lips. When they would lift their fragile human frame from that mirror, there was a contentment and confidence that they carried away from their time of gazing into it. It had challenged them. It had changed them. Although their pitiful state of affairs may have intensified while there on their knees, I did not hear the whining and complaining, nor felt blame and shame exuding from their lives. As I drew close to their point of departure I heard the joyful expression that they carried from the strange mirror … “Daddy! Oh, how He loves me! It is written, He has given us an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace II Thes. 2:16”
Christmas(where did that come from?)… such a strange and magical time of year, but look there … there stands a mirror; and there lays a mirror. Into which are we gazing?
Kneel, gaze with anticipation into His Word and be loved by the Father so that you can love those who are pointing, crying, desiring, and demanding guilt and shame be cast on you.
Reflect his love that you will find in the mirror of His Word.
HLFA,
Jeff
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