We are all mirrors cracked. Man, as man, was made to reflect the glory of God. Adam and Eve were put into the Garden to reflect their Maker, to show forth His glory. In defying Him and eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the mirror that we were shattered.
While we rightly mourn over this destruction, we would be wise to note that it is not, at least yet, total. A shattered mirror isn’t something we want to use to help us shave, but it retains some of its former features. That is, a shattered mirror is part mirror, part cracks. The image may indeed be hideous, but it is still an image. God made us to worship Him, and to exercise dominion over His creation for His glory. In our fallen state we worship the creature rather than the Creator, and exercise dominion for our own glory. That we worship is a sure sign that there is mirror left in us. That we worship creatures is a sure sign that there are cracks. That we exercise dominion is where we see the mirror pieces. That we do it for our glory is where we see the cracks.
But God. When we are born again, when we embrace the work of Christ for us, we are declared to be whole, righteous, all mirror and no crack. When our Father looks at us He sees Himself, because He sees His Son, the express image of His glory (Hebrews 1:3). Sanctification is that process by which we are being remade into what He has already declared us to be. The scars, the cracks in our mirrors are healed over time such that we more accurately reflect who He is. We become over time more and more mirror, less and less crack.
The process, however, moves in the opposite direction as well. Those who are outside of Christ, who have not been given the gift of new birth, instead grow more dead. They yet have slivers of mirror, out of which they may love their children, help those in need, exercise dominion. Those slivers, however, are becoming smaller and smaller. In us cracks become mirror. In them mirror becomes cracks. Glass is ground into dust from which we all came. C.S. Lewis, as he is wont to do, said it better in The Weight of Glory:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
May we learn to show more to mirrors cracked the One who makes us whole.
The Bible teaches, from Genesis 3 onward, the antithesis. Antithesis is a rather fancy theological term that simply affirms that the people of God live their lives in the context of the battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. While we are called to love our enemies, we are called to recognize them as enemies. Though the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, we are at war. We are called to be set apart, distinct, separate from the world around us. One could even translate ekklesia, which is usually translated “church” in our English Bibles this way, “the called-out ones.” We seem to have forgotten the antithesis in our day, strategizing that if we will become more like the world we might make a difference, that the way to be salt and light is to mask our savor and cover our light. We are of the light, and they of the dark. We are of our Father in heaven, they children of the Father of lies. We are, by the grace of God, the friends of God. They are, by nature, His enemies.
There is, however, sundry points of contact. However mangled and distorted, those outside the kingdom still bear the image of God. Conversely, however, there is this point of contact- we are still sinners. Though we have been regenerated we yet struggle with sin. Though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are still tempted by the spirit of the age. This point of contact, however, the ways in which we sin, is not designed to serve as a bridge to the lost world. It is instead designed to be direction away from itself. That we sin, usually in the same ways that they sin tells us how we can better recognize our sins, that we might flee those sins.
The culture then, serves as a “culture,” a way to discern what ails us. If we want to know the kinds of sins we are tempted toward, we ought to be watching the sins of the world around us. Chances are we are tempted in the same direction. This, sadly, is something too many that are wisely conscious of the antithesis miss. We are so intent on the differences between us and them that we fail to see us in them. They murder their babies, while we avoid ours. They steal from their god by cheating on their taxes. We rob our God by failing to tithe. We rant and we rail against the world’s sin x, and miss the fact that sin x comes in camel size at our favorite buffet. Is the world shallow and greedy? I probably am too. Is the world hell-bent on self? I probably am too. Is the world deaf, dumb and blind? I probably am too.
The difference, the antithesis, between us and the world isn’t that they have sin issues while we do not. The difference is two-fold. First, our sins have already been covered. Jesus died for them, and the Father is not angry with us. Second, we are committed to finding them out, rather than hiding them. Isn’t it gracious of God then to give us the glaring shamelessness of the world to make our own sins more known to us? May He in turn give us eyes to see.
Jesus’ public ministry, because Jesus changes everything, changed everything. It’s hard to believe such a short time could render such potent change. It was not long after He ascended to the right hand of the Father that His disciples were called, “They who have upset the world.” (Acts 17:6)
Three years ago today my precious wife walked down the aisle of Saint Andrews Chapel and changed everything. My father led us through the marriage ceremony and then we walked that same aisle together. I wish I could look back over the last three years and see an impact coming from me like that that Jesus had. Instead I look back over the past three years and am reminded not how much I have done for Jesus, but how much He has done for me.
Over the course of the past three years almost all that He has done for me He has done through my wife, His daughter, Lisa. When I have failed, she has responded in love. When I have been attacked, she has come to my defense. When I have been discouraged, she has lifted my countenance. When I have felt alone, she has walked beside me. When I have clung to old habits she has set me free. When I have lost hope she has set my eyes on Jesus. She has been my counselor, my partner, my friend, my lover, my comfort and my joy.
And that is just me. She has mothered our children, loved and risked and sacrificed for them. She serves them, teaches them, trains them, hugs them, blesses them. She has led them out of the broken down home I had had them in and given them health and life and direction. The grace that He pours through her extends beyond me and our children. For three years I’ve been blessed to watch her encourage young mothers, meet the needs of those in need, open her home and heart to strangers, perhaps even angels unaware. I’ve watched her respond with grace to gracelessness from others, returning good for evil. I’ve watched her continue to live a life of faith in the One who sustains us both.
Just a few weeks after our wedding I, in my sin, brought my own platform crashing down around me. No longer did I have a public venue from which to introduce her, to encourage her, to praise her. She, however, doesn’t live to be known for her faithful service. She lives for faithful service itself. She never lost a step, never walked away, never beat me with the big stick of my big sin. For three years instead she has loved and been loved. For three years she has walked beside me as we have sought to follow the Teacher. Not once has she lost faith that He is leading us, and leading us to an eternity that is beyond our ken. When we reach those shores we will remember these three years with thanksgiving as we look forward with hope in the eternity He won for us. And the sower leads us…
I get it. I really do. It’s no fun being a 97-pound weakling in the midst of the culture wars. Which is why we cling to our King Sauls and our Samsons, big burly heroes that strike fear in our enemies, but who, in the end, always disappoint us. Chik-fil-A was just such a chicken champion. Big and powerful, a top three chain, clear which side they were on, until now. After years of bad press for not being on the left side of the sexual revolution, years that saw the chain experience enormous growth, the corporate office recently announced that it would no longer give to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Salvation Army. These two groups, as you might expect, are utter non-combatants in the revolution, but have had the bad taste to affirm their commitment to marriage. So yeah, like most Christians I’m disappointed, bummed, surprised. More than that, however, I find the whole thing baffling.
How did it come to pass that the corporate giving of a fast-food chain became news? Because somehow we’ve bought into the notion that who a company gives to somehow is a reason to either do business or not do business with them. The meta is cancel culture and I want out. Boycotts are more about virtue signaling than changing anything. It is clear that the left’s disdain for Mr. Cathy’s restaurants did them no damage. I suspect the coming disdain of the right will likewise do them no damage. The greatest danger in Chik-fil-a’s rearview mirror isn’t cultural warriors- it’s Popeye’s.
I am in complete agreement with the critics of the new policy. Neville Chamberlain apparently works in public relations in Atlanta. It’s bad enough to spin this move as, “We’re cutting off the Salvation Army and committing our resources to the hungry and homeless” but worse do so while claiming surrender as peace. It won’t begin to satisfy the left. Instead it will embolden them. It will anger the right. It is a clear sign that whoever is in charge of such things is Saul, not David. But choosing where to eat lunch is not a strategic maneuver in the culture wars. I will not lose a moment’s sleep over Chik-fil-a. I will, however, mark the date for more lines in the sand will be crossed, new lines drawn, only to be crossed. Goliath will continue to shout his insults at us, and we will continue to cower.
I’m not saying every Christian owned company needs to be on a crusade against homo jihad. I am saying that if Jesus is your chairman you tremble before Him, not pretenders to His throne. Chik-fil-a is free to do with its profits what it wishes. It now wishes to virtue signal to the left that they aren’t so bad after all. That’s a shame. But it is by no means unusual. We are a body of appeasers whose hunger for the world’s approval far outweighs our hunger for chicken sandwiches or our hunger for righteousness. Maybe what we need to do is not boycott Chik-fil-a but stand with and support FCA and the Salvation Army.
The internet did not invent sin. We were plenty awful to each other long before Al Gore went into his lab and wound his web around the world. That said, the internet did bring some new features to the sin party.
Perhaps the first feature is the ambiguity about the cyber world itself. Is it real, or a mirage? It is mirage enough that internet language has invented its own word for the world we actually inhabit, IRL, in real life. The “unrealness” of the internet encourages us to think that when we attack with our words that the attack is unreal. The person who is attacked, however, is assuredly real. As is the person doing the attacking.
Which brings us to the second impetus for our ugliness- anonymity. Common grace carries with it this restraint against our own sinful inclinations- we can bring shame on ourselves. But if the “self” we are is unknown by virtue of a fake name, or no name at all we miss the blessing of shame. A dozen years ago one man, out of hatred of me, turned his bile at Ligonier Ministries, writing dozens of scurrilous pieces under the fictitious name of Frank Vance. He hid his tracks with an elaborate network of proxy servers. He commented and linked under a multitude of other false names. That same man continues to publish a number of www.rcsprouljristhedevil.com sites. And people continue to read him. Now he doesn’t even bother with a fake name, but uses no name at all.
Which brings us back to the first impetus- the ambiguity of the cyber world. One of the deepest blessings of the internet is that it has democratized broadcasting. Time was that to reach an audience one had to amass expensive equipment, buy exorbitant airtime and make it through a gauntlet of professional editors and vetters. Now, anyone can say anything. But we, especially we who are older, look at the new world through the lens of the old, thinking that what we read or listen to carries with it all the backing that was once required to get an audience. Even when we know better we still slip up here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from people who say, “I heard this about you, and know it is nothing but a scandalous assault with not a hint of truth in it. I can tell your critic really has it out for you and shouldn’t be trusted. Still, there was this one question I’d love for you to address…”
It’s a good thing to be skeptical of unknown internet hit men. It’s a better thing to not believe what they write. It’s better still not to read them at all.
The problem, however, is found both in what we take in and what we put out. We have no editors, no one to vet us when we vent. So let me make three important suggestions. First, never publish nor read anything without a name attached to it. There is simply no excuse to hide out in public and to blur the lines between the real and the imagined. Second, always remember that no matter how wrong they might be, no matter how famous and powerful, no matter how truly vile they may be, whomever you are talking about still bears the image of God who redeems vile sinners like us. And third, build up and encourage the saints. Use your words to edify. The Bible says the world will know us by our love one for another. When we bite and snipe and attack our brothers we grieve the Spirit within us. Don’t.
