Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Keeping the Mirror Handy



President Franklin Roosevelt just hated receptions where diplomatic insincerity flowed like wine.  Roosevelt would stand in the reception line like a disciplined soldier, shaking hands with people, welcoming them to the White House, knowing they wouldn’t hear a word he said; they’d smile with a glazed look in their eyes, probably trying to figure out what to say to get something out of the American treasury. 

He decided to change things up one day.  As those smiling, non-listening people filed through he shook each hand, and said: Welcome to the White House, folks, we’re glad you’re hear, even if I did murder my grandmother last night.  True to his suspicion, all the diplomats smiled widely and simply uttered their thank you, Mr. President…glad to be here…and they’d move-on down the line.

That is, until he greeted a diplomat near the end of the line with his test line, Welcome to the White House, we’re glad you’re hear, even if I did murder my grandmother last night.  Without skipping a beat the one diplomat, who was indeed apparently listening, replied, well, sir, I’m certain she deserved it.

The story may be just an apocryphal, second-hand fable, but the truth it tells of people not listening, but skipping-over what another says, while thinking about what they want to say, is a dyed-in-the-wool surety; we’ve all done it.

Perhaps the reason we find it increasingly hard to get along with each other in this world is due, at least in part, to not hearing others.  I want to hold up the mirror that James suggests today, aimed at helping us remember that the only way to have a conversation is for both talking AND listening to take place.

We can get so used to the furniture in our house we don’t even notice it anymore.  Or the road signs.  If you’ve lived here for awhile you may have passed our church sign thousands of times.  You probably don’t even know what the sign says, because it hasn’t changed a bit since I came here 9 years ago.  The sign says:


The first time I saw it I wondered if having Russell Brownworth as pastor was why we had to pray for the USA.  (But that’s just me).

Andras Tamas wondered about his own life.  He also wondered if Andras Tamas was his name.  It was the name officials gave to him decades ago in a Russian psychiatric hospital.  He'd been drafted into the army, but the authorities had mistaken his native Hungarian language for the gibberish of a lunatic and had him committed.  Then they forgot about him...for 53 years.

In the late 1990’s a psychiatrist at the hospital began to realize what had happened and helped Tamas recover the memories of who he was and where he came from.  After being released from a psychiatric hospital, this sane man returned home to Budapest as a war hero, "the last prisoner of World War II."

Not only had this man forgotten his real name, he hadn't even seen his own face in five decades.  So, according to one news account:  For hours, the old man studies the face in a mirror.  The deep-set eyes.  The gray stubble on the chin. The furrows of the brow.  It is his face, but it is a startling revelation.[1]

It’s easy, if we don’t hold the mirror up daily, to lose sight of what we are, and Whose we are.  As a pastor, I have often worn myself to the ragged edge chasing down new programs, practices, and activities for helping the church get healthy and grow.  It’s usually only after I am run down and played out that I remember the mirror. 

And when I look in that mirror, I don’t like what I see.  I was informed in seminary that programs, practices, and activities are what the people in a church need to grow up in Christ, and it’s my job to put those plates on the end of long sticks and start them turning…and keep them turning.  And when those programs, meetings, and activities flop I feel like Andras Tamas, a prisoner speaking gibberish that nobody understands, locked away for half-a-century in a place of forgotten people, who can’t remember their own names, or who they were created to be.

If you’ve ever felt that way, most likely you’ve also been tempted to smash the mirror and never look at it again.  We do that because being honest with what’s going on in life is too painful. 

God’s Word is that mirror.  If we just glance at it occasionally, such as being regular in worship and Sunday School, where it’s read, talked-over, and then put on a shelf until next week, we can forget what we read and heard with the best of them!  But when we take it as seriously, as God meant for us to, the pain of not obeying with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength[2] is painful, even unbearable.

Why is it so painful to look in that self-mirror and see the truth about why we don’t do God’s will like He tells us?  It’s because, deep-down, we know it means giving up our will, and becoming His servant.  And we all prefer our own way rather than letting anyone else make decisions. 

But that’s what Lordship is…becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, for the glory of God our Creator.  And what most of us opted for at the altar call was Savior, not Lord.  We want to go to heaven; but we want to live this life until that time in just whatever way we want.

Now, pastor, that is a harsh thought for the church, isn’t it?  Well, I suppose you would have to ask the author, James, the half-brother of our Lord.  He’s the one who wrote it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

But if you have just another moment or two, let’s go a bit further into what James said about holding up the mirror every day, and not forgetting what the Lordship of Jesus Christ is like for those who profess to be His disciples, children of God.

Hear verse 25 again:

But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.  James 1: 25

God will bless you for being honest, by looking into His Word, His mirror of your life and obedience. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, church, the question is, do you want to be fan of Jesus, or do you want to be a follower of Jesus?  A fan may come to church, give, sing, attend Bible Study, and even put a Thank You Jesus bumper sticker on his car.  But a follower will put Jesus first in everything he does.  It’s called commitment to the Lord, not just leaning on the Savior to take you to Heaven.

Our Prayer

Lord, your fans abound along with the bumper stickers, yard signs, and Facebook pages.  We are pretty sure those aren’t horrible heresies, but we’re also certain those are not what your death on the cross for our sins are all about. 

Your death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father, were all the prelude to gathering a family under your Lordship…disciples who would place Your will above their own. 

Save us from repeating phrases in church services like, hallowed be Thy name – Thy kingdom come, thy will be done without following through, and submitting to Your will in every moment of our lives.

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father in everything we do.  Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 


[1] Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune (9-6-00)


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