Reflection of new creation
When you look in the mirror, what image appears to you? In the well-known fairy tale, Snow White's wicked stepmother considered herself the most beautiful of all – an image she could only attain through an enchanted mirror. My mirror doesn't speak; it shows me a razor-sharp, albeit reversed, image of myself. This reflection doesn't reveal a flawless person, but an older, bald, plump, and sleepy morning grouch. The mirror also reveals a selfish, greedy, and vain person who, despite a lifelong struggle with sin, repeatedly loses control, indulges in outrageous behavior, and doesn't take the truth seriously. Other people may see me as an average, pleasant fellow with whom one would enjoy going out to dinner or to a football game. Paul writes that the mirror does not reveal our true selves, but only a distorted, incomplete image: "For now we see in a glass dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known" (1. Corinthians 13,12).
Our present life is like an unfinished work. One day, we will know ourselves as God created us for life in Jesus Christ and as He already knows us today. Once we have surrendered our lives to God, we are reborn to a new spiritual life: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2. Corinthians 5,17).
Through conversion, we take on the image of God, our Creator, in Christ. Your life should reflect this new spiritual reality. Paul therefore exhorts us: "Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" (Colossians 1:14). 3,1-4).
This truth isn't just for a future time—it's already a reality. When I look in the mirror, I don't see the new me sitting with Christ at the right hand of the Father, but rather the familiar sinner who is struggling to improve. Paul reminds us that we have died and risen with Christ. The new life in it may remain hidden at first until Christ reveals himself. In that moment, our true selves will also become visible, just as God intended for us in Jesus Christ. Salvation cannot be earned, and we become neither righteous nor morally perfect through our own efforts. God has already done everything necessary for us. It's not about striving to meet standards, but about trusting that in Christ we have risen and become a new person.
Throughout the New Testament, Paul calls for righteous behavior because we are already in Christ, and he lives in us through the Spirit of God. He does not demand that we improve ourselves in order to be accepted by him. The idea that we must first be good before God saves us loses its value. It is about believing in the reality that has already come to pass: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 1:10). 5,8).
From the experience of being enemies of God, the promised life now arises, which in its fullness leads to blessedness: “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 1:14). 5,10).
The late theologian Thomas Torrance put it this way: "Precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, Jesus Christ died for you and thereby—whether you believe in him or ever will—has already made you his own. By his love, he has bound you indissolubly to himself because, even if you reject him, his love will never be extinguished."
Such a comprehensive act of salvation, such indescribable love and unconditional grace cannot be earned or changed—neither through good nor through bad behavior. The only access is faith. Through Jesus Christ, God has already given us everything: grace, justification, and salvation. All we can do is trust that he is our salvation and our life: "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" (Colossians 1:14). 3,4).
There is often a perception that the Gospel calls us to improve, along the lines of "Become a decent person, and God will love you." In fact, the Gospel is centered on love—God's love for us, which existed before our conversion and from which our love for him grows: "Let us love, because he first loved us" (1. John 4,19).
God loved you before you were born, and he still loves you today, even if you sin in certain situations. He will never abandon you, even if you never fully live up to moral standards of good behavior on a single day. This is the good news and truth of the gospel: Jesus Christ is our righteousness, our salvation, and our redemption: "But through him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; to this, as it is written: 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'"1. Corinthians 1,30).
Everything we receive does not come from our own strength. We contribute nothing to salvation; rather, we can rely on him to be for us everything we cannot achieve on our own. The realization that he loved you first frees us from the selfishness of our heart and makes it possible to love him and our neighbor sincerely. Love cannot be forced or contractually stipulated; it is freely given and freely accepted. God gives us his love and wants us to receive it gratefully.
The Holy Spirit guides and invites us to participate in the new life of love that God has given us in Christ, so that we can experience how we become the new people that God has already made us to be in Jesus Christ. This is how God knows and sees us, even if we cannot yet fully realize this or admit it to ourselves. The next time you look in the mirror, consider for a moment how God sees you. He recognizes in you the true image – his beloved child, whose sins are forgiven and guilt wiped out, for whom he created a new creature in Jesus Christ. The mirror may show what it will, but never forget: the new you is already sitting with Jesus at the right hand of the Father, loved and protected, awaiting the day when Christ will reveal himself. What God sees in you is the true image.
by J. Michael Feazell
More articles on this topic:
