Lord, what kind of a face am I wearing right now? Help me to realize that whatever kind it is, that’s what You are reflecting back to me. Teach me carefully what David meant when he said,
With the merciful, You are merciful, With the perfect, You are perfect, With the pure, You are pure, And with the stubborn, You are stubborn. Psalm 18:25–26 (author’s trans.)
My face determines You, Lord, just as a child’s face determines the mother or father. When the child has hurt himself and turns a piteous face toward his mother, instant pity is the result. But when the child grows sullen and rebellious and throws a surly look toward his mother, look out! I see now what C. S. Lewis meant when he was trying to be reconciled to God through Christ and God said to him, “Wipe that look off your face!” God will not be reconciled with surly birds.
How do I see my own face? How do I know what mood I am wearing? I must look continually into the Word of God, the “mirror” that reminds me of what kind of man I am. I am the greatest of fools if I lose contact with my face, if I imagine myself to be one thing while the mirror tells me I am something else.
Lord, not only You but my friends and neighbors are constantly scanning my face to see what news there is in the heart. Does my face tell them of a Christ who is abundantly able, or do they see a Christ still lying in the tomb? How thrilling it is to realize that Christ’s face can be seen in me (2 Corinthians 4:6). If He is alive in my heart, my face will be alive with His glory; if He rules me inwardly, He will shine from me outwardly. Jesus Christ is my spiritual cosmetic.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches’”(Jeremiah 9:23).
Daily with the King 