The girl in the advertisement was really pretty – sparkling smile and big brown eyes. Maybe 15 years old, maybe younger. That’s why it seemed strange that she was in an ad for hair coloring.

I mean, why would a teenager feel the need to dye her hair? That’s like saying, “I’m not good enough the way I am, the way God made me, so I have to change something.”

I guess she looked in the wrong mirror that morning. You know the one I’m talking about – the Judas mirror – the one that betrays your true self, the one that makes you see things about yourself that aren’t really there – like a nose that’s too big or breasts that are too small, eyes the wrong color or hair that’s just not the right shade of brown.

Now if she had looked in the Jesus Mirror that day, she would have seen something spectacular –perfection! – a child of God, made in the image of God, a reflection of Christ himself.

The Judas mirror only reflects what’s on the surface. When we look in that mirror, we only see half of who we are and we see that half through a mirror that’s made dirty and cloudy by the shallow values of a culture that says only our appearance is important.

The Jesus mirror reflects the true beauty of both body and soul and reflects the truth that we are good enough just as we are because we were made in the image of God. The Judas mirror tries to convince us that we should reflect the values of the world, but the Jesus mirror proves that we reflect the Lord who is truth and light and goodness.

The Bible tells us over and over again that we are created for and by a God of Love:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord, you know it completely.

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from y our presence:

For it was you who formed my inward parts;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

(Psalm 139:1-2, 4,7,13-14)

What a beautiful truth – wonderfully made and filled with more gifts that we can image! Is it really our face, our body, our clothes that make us special to other people, or is it how we make them feel about themselves?

Is it how we talk or is it how we listen? Does our “perfect” wardrobe make them feel better when they are sad or hurting, or is it simply our presence and our smile – the most beautiful thing a person can wear?

When we look in the Jesus Mirror, we are able to see all those beautiful things that make it possible for us to love ourselves – this self-love is not selfishness. Jesus told us that the greatest commandments, the ones that summed up all the rest, were “love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

It seems you can’t do one without the other.

So, if you have a Judas Mirror in your house, get rid of it.

Start and finish every day looking in the Jesus Mirror to remind yourself that you are a reflection of Christ, and you can’t get any better than that.

Photo by Kubra Acikgoz on Unsplash

Copyright © 2022 Mary Clifford Morrell. All rights reserved.