Exercise: Look at yourself in this mirror (teacher provides a mirror) and tell me what you see. What do you look like to yourself? Let each student tell you how they see themselves in the mirror.
Does anyone remember the fairy tale, Show White. Remember the wicked queen and her magic mirror. While gazing into the mirror she cited to it each day, “mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all”. Though the queen’s outward appearance was very attractive, the mirror always replied, “it’s not you my dear, but Show White is the fairest in the land”. This would anger the wicked queen horribly until one day she cooked up a scheme to get rid of Snow White once and for all, for if Snow White was gone the mirror would have no choice but say that she, the queen, was the fairest in the land. However, no matter her attempt, Snow White was still deemed by the mirror as the fairest in the land.
You might ask, why am I telling a fairy tale in Sunday School. Well, though this story is not true, it does bare some truths about our lives and perhaps our Christianity. As a matter of fact some fairy tales, are based off of biblical principles in some form or another.
1 Sam. 16:7—but the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Here God was telling Samuel, that’s not the guy I have chosen to be king, just because he is good looking, tall and strong. I don’t look at the outward appearance as men do, I look at the heart.
Have you heard that old adage, beauty is only skin deep. That’s kind of what the Lord is saying here “he may be good looking, he may look stately and king like outwardly, but he don’t have what it takes to be king over my people.
And in the story of Snow White, the wicked queen just did not understand when the mirror was telling her that she wasn’t the fairest in the land, that it wasn’t because of her looks, it was because the mirror could see what “kind” of person she was. Beauty has nothing to do with looks. Snow White was deemed the fairest because of her inward beauty and purity.
And so, the Lord looks at us in the same way. He can see what kind of person we are, not just what we “look” like.
Let’s turn to James 1:21-25—
Here the bible tells us, that a person who hears the word and does not do the word is like a man looking at himself in the mirror, and then once he turns away from the mirror he forgets what he is. The word helps him to see himself through God’s eyes, but once his face is turned from the mirror he forgets what he saw.
Here the bible says, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty (the word of God) and continueth therein (continueth being the keyword), he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
There are some people who after looking into the word of God and see that there are some things in their life and some things they are doing that are ugly, they turn away from that “mirror” so they can no longer see themselves. They figure if they don’t look then nothing is wrong.
But the person who continues in the Word when he sees something is ugly in his life, will do what the Word tells him to do to correct that problem, and will be blessed by his willingness to change.
Look one more time in the mirror here. Try picturing yourself as God sees you. Is there any ugliness staring back at you. Do you have some things in your life, things maybe you do in private, believing that no one can see you. Maybe you know what the bible says about lying, or that your pastor preaches against certain things on the internet or certain other activities. Maybe these things seem so little or insignificant. They are hidden, no one will ever know, but I am here to tell you today, that God knows. He sees the “real” you even when you are alone. No matter where you are or what you are doing, he’s sees it and the bible tells us....be sure, your sin will find ye out.
You see eventually, if you ignore the correction of God’s word enough, you can be sure, your sin will find you out. That sin will appear on the surface, kind of like a pimple on your face. It will become manifest in your attitude and actions, it will eventually come to the surface where not only God sees it, but others will too.
---Tell a story of someone you know who has been rebellious, and has done something even after being told not to, and they are caught. Like my daughter who was forbidden to get on facebook but then when telling me a story about one of her friends, told me she found all this stuff out on facebook. Oops, she slipped up and told on herself. Your sin WILL find you out.
Today, let’s take a good look at the man in the mirror and allow the perfect law of liberty to correct the blemishes in our inner man. The bible tells us that God is coming back for a bride who has made herself ready...one not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27)
Rev. 20:12—And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of lie; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Who’s the fairest of them all, is God's question. Is it you?
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POEM: with Memory verse...
Mirror, Mirror
on the wall
How do I look
to the Lord of All?
Am I pure, or full of sin?
What does He see
when he looks within?
...the Lord seeth
not as man seeth;
for man looketh on
the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh
on the heart.
1 Sam. 16:7
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