Do you sneak a peek? At a mirror at your friend’s house or maybe in a store window, you see your reflection and can’t help thinking, “I’m looking good today!”
Sometimes that extra long look will get us into trouble. The football receiver breaks free and is sprinting toward the end zone and looks up at the scoreboard screen and . . . would like to do a little pose. After all, it’s his big moment. What actually happens is he gets tackled at the five-yard-line because he slowed down – to look at himself.
We’ve been using this video conferencing at South Stokes for our worship services and Bible classes during the virus shut-down. One neat thing is I can see myself and actually tell if my tie is straight or not. However, if I am showing visual aids during the sermon, the video of me speaking is on the side of my screen. Do you know what is impossible to do? Shoot a glance at myself and not have everyone notice I’m not looking at the camera lens.
This natural interest we have in ourselves (Ephesians 5:29) can be damaging, which sounds paradoxical. After all, aren’t we supposed to be paying attention to ourselves to see how we’re doing?
One of the basic tenets of Christ’s teachings is unselfishness. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26 NKJV). Challenging stuff, right, but when you consider the greatest commandments, they involve diverting attention from ourselves to others. “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12:29-31).
We soon find that we’re having a hard time living for Christ, if we’re absorbed in ourselves. “But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). We not only shut up our hearts to those who need us, but sometimes we’re not even seeing their needs, because our focus is in the mirror. (Isn’t that the cause of rudeness, too?)
So, let’s allow Jesus to motivate us. “For the love of Christ compels us . . . and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). That’s powerful. Can we live up to it?
Jeff Greene, minister for the South Stokes Church of Christ