Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Freest of Them All?

You know the story. The one where Snow White’s delusional step-mother peers into a talking mirror and asks her favorite question: “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” We cringe at her unashamed need for validation. She’s conceited and shallow as they come, and genuine beauty doesn’t par well with either of those.

Intuitively, we sense that the queen braces herself for an unfavorable answer every time she asks the question. She worries she isn’t enough. That she can’t hold onto youth. That someone else will dethrone her reputation.

When her magical mirror points out a contender, she does what any desperate person might do. She tries to control the odds. Take out the competition. Send Snow White deep into the forest with a death sentence.

It all sounds extreme, and yet, if I had a talking mirror, I might ask it a question or two.

I’ve stood in front of a mirror and critiqued uncooperative hair, tired eyes, lines on my brow. It’s a convincing lie that beauty guarantees happiness, and I’ve believed it.   

Maybe you have too.

We compare and feel insecure. Linger in front of the mirror. Step on the scale one more time. Google the latest fix to tone, anti-age, or beautify.

A better mirror, a better way

The mirrors in our homes can’t answer our self-worth questions, but there is a mirror that can. Scripture calls it the “mirror of the Word” (James 1:23 TPT). Gaze into this mirror and you will see how God sees you: created to look like Him, chosen, cherished, constantly on His mind. You’ll learn that God has a plan for your life, that impossible things are possible when He lives inside you, and your role in God’s mission for all to see, know, and adore Him.

This mirror—the mirror of God’s Word—is ruthlessly honest and unfathomably patient.

It brings up the thing beneath all the other things. Over and over.

It’s lethal to pride, bitterness, jealousy, and envy.

It runs towards the mistreated and rejected.

Heals the fractures and fissures in our souls.

Knits broken people together in community.

Creates an outrageous ripple effect that stretches wide as the world.

The queen’s mirror couldn’t remedy her insecurity, but God’s word tells us that beauty is within and our confidence is in Him. That our lives have meaning, and it’s not defined by our outward appearance. That real freedom is found when we ‘re consumed with “[loving] and [valuing] our neighbors as we love and value ourselves” (James 2:8 TPT).

A call to action

Blame it on mom-brain, but sometimes I forget what I’m doing in the middle of doing it. This morning I put a book my son had requested in his backpack as we were hustling out the door for school. Realizing his backpack was really heavy, I quickly searched for something to remove, mistook the book for his Pokémon card binder, and took it back out of his backpack.

James gets a little salty as he cautions us to not approach the mirror of the Word like this.

Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life!

If you listen to the Word and don’t live out the message you hear, you become like the person who looks in the mirror of the Word to discover the reflection of his face in the beginning. You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the Word, but then you go out and forget your divine origin. But those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty are fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by it—they experience God’s blessing in all that they do!

James 1:22-25 TPT

This is where hard truth is laced with love. Note the way our forgetfulness pains God. It hurts Him when we beat ourselves up with standards of beauty and perfection that do not define us. He feels it with us when we discount His grace, for us and for others. He’s grieved when we’re “forgetful hearers” of His Word, as the CSB phrases it (James 1:25). He knows that freedom’s way requires that we respond and live out what we read in the Bible.

Everything changes when we remember who we are in Christ, and that’s why James doesn’t water down his message here. He knows the mirror of God’s Word is a key that frees us to live whole-hearted, authentic, fulfilled, and fruitful lives.

When we accept the way God loves us, we can’t help but love others in return. We stop being consumed with what others think of us and live from the overflow of knowing that we’re dearly beloved by God. We meet others with compassion, generosity, our full attention. We speak gently, even to ourselves.

When you’ve been stuck so long in people-pleasing and image-comparing and putting yourself down, you can hardly wrap your head around the weight of all that being lifted. But that’s what happens when we gaze into the mirror of God’s Word and let it change us.

Let’s pray.

Jesus, You know the best way. The weightless way forward that expands our hearts so we can more fully love You and love people, including ourselves. Thank you for the mirror of Your word. Today, I choose to linger here, soaking up your truth like a sponge so that it overflows.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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Find out if you are ACCIDENTALLY building walls instead of friendships—and what to do about it!

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