I try not to spend much time in front of the mirror. It can be a disappointing place. A revealing place.
Mirrors are used to reflect images. In literature or movies or television dramas they are often used as a place of revelation or soul searching. As if they can deliver conclusions to the face staring into them.
The mirror offers nothing more than a reflection. No direction. No instruction. What is done about the reflection is up to the individual who looks into the mirror. Will the image be altered or enhanced? That decision lies with the gazer.
The bible uses the mirror to illustrate an example in James 1:23 (NIV).
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it -- he will be blessed in what he does."
You see the outside of the image within the mirror. It takes deeper investigation to see what's within the person casting the image.
Father, we long to reflect you, made in your image, but we are flawed and sin-stained until the Blood of the Lamb washes us clean. Thank you for saving this sinner. Never enough gratitude to express such a generous sacrificial act. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.