What is Your Life Reflecting?
Rather listen to this blog? Listen to What is Your Life Reflecting?
Proverbs 27:19
As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
In this proverb there are four words I am going to focus on: Reflect, water, face, and heart.
Reflection seems life a simple enough concept – we all look in the mirror, don’t we? But how does reflection work? Reflection is all about LIGHT. Simply explained, light hits a surface (called the Angle of Incidence) and bounces off it (called the Angle of Reflection). The Angle of Incidence and the Angle of Reflection are always equal. Here’s the thing, though - light is invisible until it bounces off something and hits our eyes. Light is INVISIBLE until it is reflected!
Water is symbolic of many things throughout literature and the Bible. Water symbolizes LIFE. When a woman is pregnant, and the amniotic sac is ruptured beginning labor and the process by which a baby is born, it is said her water has broken. In spring, we have a saying that “April showers bring May flowers.” In our Christian faith, water baptism is symbolic of new life in Christ.
Our face shows so much about us. Our thoughts, emotions, and focus. When we want to see and decide for ourselves the sincerity of someone, we tell them to look into our eyes as they speak. Companies often have a mascot or person who is the “face” of the company.
The heart is the organ that pumps blood carrying oxygen through our bodies. Even if our brain is damaged, if our heart continues to beat we are still alive and there is hope. The heart is also symbolic of our emotions, our soul. It is where our motivations originate, where our memories are stored and connected – it is who we are.
As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
It is all connected! Water – life; reflection – light. We are the face of Jesus on earth, and we are called to reflect the light of Jesus so the world can see it (remember light cannot be seen until it is reflected)! This is a huge responsibility that requires ACTION. Let’s return to the proverb and ask this question: Why is water used as the reflective surface in this proverb instead of something else like glass, a mirror, or metal?
Picture a river. Connect to your five senses and really be by the river you’re picturing. What exactly do you SEE? Trees? What kind? Grass? What color? What does the river look like? Rocks all around, or flat and sandy? What do you SMELL? Pine from the trees? The grass at your feet? What do you HEAR? Birds chirping? The water running? What do you TASTE? The water? The crispness of the air? What do you FEEL? The wind on your face? The cold fog of early morning, or the warm touch of afternoon sun? The ticking blades of grass around your feet, or the harshness of pebbles on sandy ground?
Now, look at the river – step up to its edge. If you’re wearing shoes, take them off. Step into the river. Feel the water swirl around your ankles, and dig your feet into the sand on the bottom. Now step out of the river and step back into it in the exact same spot you were before. Look at your feet and see the river flows around you. You’ve stepped into the exact same spot as before, but the water that now flows around your ankles is not the same water that flowed around them before. We can step into the exact same spot of the river for eternity, and it will never be the same because the water is eternally flowing.
Every step we take with Jesus is different than the one before. We can be wearing the same shoes and step into the same footprint, but it will still be different. Water reflects the face because it’s always moving and never the same. If we are true believers, then we should never be the same. Jesus changes us with every step we take with Him.
As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
The heart equals our emotions, and there are a lot of bad emotions right now; fear, anger, hate, and anguish. We have an opportunity to reflect the light of Jesus through our actions…but be cautious! Jesus said in Matthew 15:8, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Don’t TALK about it – BE about it. Unless you behave like Jesus, you are not reflecting His light.
WDJD (What DID Jesus Do)? He taught, listened, forgave, prayed with and for people, and cared about people. He also spoke up when people were doing wrong (dealing with the money changers in the temple, the sinful woman, Doubting Thomas…the list goes on).
As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.
Reflect the light of Jesus. Don’t let Satan darken this world! Reflect the light so the world can see Jesus. We can make a difference, but only if we act. Victory already belongs to God, but we have a chance to be a part of that victory.
Acts 2:26 says, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will rest in hope.” This is the hope that by reflecting enough of the light of Jesus, we will drive Satan out.
AMEN.
