The Man in the Mirror

THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
written by Kenny Dyess, via Facebook

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found.
Was blind, but now I see.

When God, by his grace, began to reveal to me the glorious finished work of his dear Son in my place, one thing became crystal clear. I finally had a clear view of the man in the mirror. Who he is, but more importantly, what he is, by birth, by nature, by practice and yes, even by choice.

You see, the man in my mirror is a sinner. I have sinned against God in the foulest of ways, but the ways that man, especially religious men, count the worst of sins are not the half of it.

The sins that I found most repulsive we're my religious doings that I previously thought won me the favor of God. Where I once thought my abstaining from work, and regular church attendance on Sunday, caught God's attention, I now saw that even my prayers and Bible study were cancerous with sin. I sang at most church services and many funerals, and I now despised my singing because, in part, I saw how much my pride swelled with the accolades that came afterwards. What I once saw as pleasing to God, I now saw as rotten and a means to my destruction.

The verses from Matthew 7:21-23 condemned everything I did, for having once seen myself, with that "christian" multitude, as having done "many wonderful works", I now saw those same works as an affront to the finished work of Christ alone. Through God's grace, I saw clearly that my acceptance before him has never been, is not now, and can never be, on the basis or merit of my best work, on my best day. I am not "his hands and feet", for he can raise up stones to do better than I have done. I am not "the only Bible that some people will ever read", and I will never "let others see Jesus in me". These are simply well intentioned, though totally unbiblical, religious platitudes voiced by those who have not seen the man in the mirror for what he truly is.

The religious world didn't see Jesus in Jesus, and the Apostle Paul wrote "O wretched man that I am" in Romans 7:24, as a fully converted, saved man. The things that Paul considered "dung", in Philippians 3 were his former religious practices where he based his acceptance before God on his strict keeping of the law. This was not just any law, but God's law, given to Moses on Sinai.

Today, the man in my mirror no longer seeks to rest, or find comfort, in his own works, but rests exclusively in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is my Surety and Substitute. He has established the only righteousness that is not only acceptable, but is pleasing to God, and that righteousness is mine by God's gracious decree of imputation, wherein all of Christ's perfections and all of his merits were charged to my account. My dead works have been put upon him who bore the entire cup of God's wrath, on my behalf, right down to the dregs, on his cross. I am accepted in the Beloved, or I am not accepted at all.

There are many who say, but rewards are based on works. This is repulsive language to the perfections granted the child of God, in Christ. If every child of God is totally, completely and eternally perfect, not in their own works, but only in the perfect work of our Lord who declared, "It is finished", on the cross, then our reward can only be one thing. The reward for the child of God is the reward of Christ. (Genesis 15:1) He alone earned it, so it is based entirely on his merits alone and he shall freely give us "all things". (Romans 8:32)

This is a work that I could not do, for in my several missionary endeavors, my most eloquent sermons, or my most fervent prayers, sin remained. I faced the man in the mirror daily knowing that there was no hope in my best doings, but praise God for his grace in saving sinners. I have a righteous Substitute; I have a Surety; I have a Righteousness that I did not and could not produce; I have a friend! Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

Alas! and did my Saviour bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred Head
For such a worm as I?