The Hall of Mirrors

The Christian faith is a communal faith, whereby we not only commune with God but also with those whose souls are also united to Christ. We are to love one another, serve one another, confess our failures to one another, forgive one another, celebrate our victories with one another, provoke one another to love and good deeds, and take joy in honoring others above ourselves. Phew. That’s a whole lot of stuff that we are to be doing with and for one another.

St John said that our love for God would be seen in how we love each other. You say that you are walking in the light of God’s Truth, then that will be seen in doing the same with others. He says that his life is all about serving God. That will be proven by how he serves others. She professes that she honors God and walks humbly before Him. Then thus it shall be so toward others. Others are the Mirrors of Reality. And there’s the rub.

If we want to tell ourselves and others one thing while doing the opposite, then we either have to change or we have to get rid of the mirrors.

Mirrors of Reality

Wisdom declares that those who isolate themselves are seeking their own desires. (Proverbs 18.1) I don’t want what you would reflect about me anywhere near my world. Why: because I want what I want and do not wish to be challenged. I want to believe I am getting along fairly well with my chosen way of being in life. I want to be comforted by feeling all the “right things” toward others without my actual behaviors being challenged by any mirrors. I want to go my own way while pretending to be following after God. Mirrors allow no such pretense.

So.

We prefer churches filled with isolationists whose members have unspoken agreements with one another to keep all mirrors covered.

We only choose “friends” who are muddy mirrors.

If a clean and true mirror somehow finds its way into our world, we will spew forth a great fog, remind everyone that we ALL “see through a glass darkly,” and remove said mirror from our world during whatever chaos we can create.

And we will do this while telling ourselves stories of how we are being true to God, to ourselves, to Truth, and to wisdom. Win-win! I get to hold on to my secret desires (willfulness, greed, covetousness, lust, vanity, or what-have-you) all while professing a devout love for God and others because I have removed all mirrors from the halls of my world. What is so bizarre is that we will then cry out to God regarding our loneliness and how so many blessings promised us in scriptures are nowhere to be found in our lives. Well, go figure.

We were not created to be alone, not meant to go on our Quests, alone. St Paul told us that there are individuals with whom God wants us to be joined where there is a constant giving and receiving of life. (Ephesians 4.16) It is here where all the “one another” stuff mentioned in the opening paragraph is lived out. Don’t forsake these people, don’t ignore what they are mirroring back to you about your reality, for it is in these relationships where we are strengthened for our Quests and built up in love.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2014