In Proverbs 27:19 it reads:
" As water reflects the face, so a man's heart reflects the man." (NIV)
"As in water, a face answers to a face, so the heart of man...to a man," (KJV)
"Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart." (The Message)
"You see your face in a mirror, and your thoughts in the minds of others." (Contemporary Eng.)
"As faces are not alike, so hearts are not alike." (Aramaic Version)
Quite a variety of thought in that one statement. In English dictionaries, "mirror" is defined as: anything that gives a true representation or description.
In this verse of Scripture, a mirror is used to understand better a person's heart. In the Old Testament alone, the word heart is mentioned 855 times. In Jewish train of thought, my understanding is in the Jewish mind the heart of a person is everything...his attitude, his desires, his motives, his intellect,...basically everything that makes ups a person.
Often how we see ourselves is affected by how each of our lives have developed. Some have been "beaten down", others have been manipulated over and over, while others have faced abuse.
Then, there are those like the kitten, who sees himself as a strong lion. So, then the question arises, how we see ourselves in a mirror....is it accurate of who we really are?
One avenue is: "How do your friends and those around you see you? Are you to be trusted?...are you honest?...do you show concern?" According to this verse of Scripture, your friends can act as a "mirror" as well.
From a Christian outlook, here is what I have experienced in life: human nature is pretty much the same. Like I have mentioned before, we often here the phrase "history repeats itself", well, I'm not so sure it does...but this I have noticed: "human nature repeats itself"...that is a definite!
For me, what can give us an honest reflection of who we are....is God's Amazing Grace at work in our lives.
Pain, hurt, and even the scars of life can "cloud our vision" at times...even when we are looking straight into the mirror! God's Grace and His mercy working its way into our hearts....can change how we look...both ourselves and how others see us as well.
Then, we find ourselves doing things we probably would not ordinarily do...and the benefits are good...both for others and for ourselves. I think of the Swedish Proverb which through Christ we are able to do...it goes like this; "Love me when I least deserve it...because that is when I really need it."
Sometimes looking at ourselves through God's Grace is humbling, for it makes us quite aware we look a lot better with His Grace operating in our lives. Martin Luther ran into this thought in 1521, when he was writing on the Sermon of the Mount series, he wrote: " You see, He is making the birds our schoolmasters and teachers. It is a great and yet an abiding disgrace to us that in the Gospel, a helpless sparrow should become both a theologian and preacher to the wisest men...whenever you hear a nightingale, you are listening to an excellent preacher! It is as if he were saying: " I prefer to be in the Lord's kitchen, for He has already made both heaven and earth, and He Himself is both cook and the Host! And look! Everyday He feeds and nourishes innumerable birds...out of His very Hands!"
Looking in the mirror...can be misleading...because your mind tells you things that may or may not be true. Take an honest look...what do you see?...Let me ask you..."Do you see Him yet?"
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