Loving God, create in us a clean heart, for all that we might face today. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Some people love mirrors. Some people don't. Some people cannot pass a mirror without pausing to get yet another look and fix their hair, makeup, etc. Some people hurry past mirrors. Regardless of which type of person you may be when it comes to mirrors, mirrors have their purpose. I believe they were created to help us dress, prepare us for the day and that's all they do. A good mirror is one that makes you look good. But are there such things as "good" mirrors? Don't they just reflect back what image is presented them? Well, we could argue angle, shape, we could even throw in circus or carnival mirrors, but when you get a decent mirror, it just shows you you!
In today's passage Paul is saying something similar about the Law. The text is from Romans 7:7-13:
7 What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived 10 and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
The Law of God helped humanity know how to identify sin. God shared the commandments and the laws as a way of instilling self-restraint, control of violence, and a measure of compassion and respect towards others and the property and relationship of others. A mirror does show when we need to redo or cut our hair; at best, when we need to comb our hair. A mirror also shows when we need to exercise more and lose weight; it may even reflect a sadness or guilt that a previous action on our part has placed on our face. Paul said that the Law helped him know sin and what sin caused, namely death. Paul, as a man, struggled just like you and me, with daily temptations and situations in which we respond with actions that are not spiritual, but physical and hurtful. Paul said that the Law helped me know what sin is, yet he still sinned. The Law as our mirror shows us the things we don't want to know about ourselves; but we look beyond the image to what is not seen. Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who has deemed us worthy and loved, beyond what we may think or hear about what is "worthy and loved" by the standards of this world. In the same way, Paul knew that beyond our bodies, and how out of control we may be because of them, Jesus Christ our Lord has stepped in and delivered us to God!
So, after you read this, you will walk by or directly to a mirror. Use the eyes of God to see in that reflection a new you, made so by love, the love of God for you. As you pray and do your daily things, use the word of God as that which reminds you of what sin is and how we best should stay away from it.
PRAYER: God of eternal love, help me today see me as You do. Help me today live as You would have me live. Deliever me from the enslavements of sin to the freedom and peace of grace. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
