identity

The problem is simple; we can’t see ourselves. Our eyes look out, not within, so unaided, we don’t know what we look like.

We need some assistance, like a mirror.

Glass, metal, still water–anything that enables us to catch a reflection of ourselves. 

We also need other people.

To a great extent, we discover and develop who we are in communities. The relationships we form and the roles we play affect how we present ourselves. If we’re part of a bowling league, we wear the team shirt. If we’re in the army, we keep our hair cropped. Society influences what we look like.

This also applies to our personalities, our souls. The crowd we hang out with shapes how we view ourselves. We learn and form who we are by listening to the opinions of others.

If those ideas are healthy, we’ll grow in self-acceptance. If we face non-stop criticism, we’ll begin to hate ourselves.

Objects and others are flawed to one degree or another. Mirrors can have cracks. The images in funhouse mirrors are unrealistic. Metal mirrors don’t reflect very well. And people can let sentiments and wishes cloud their judgment. They confuse their opinions with the truth.

To know our identity, we need reliable mirrors and trusted friends.

The apostle Paul comments on this issue, penning the following:

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12

He contrasts the present and the future. At the moment, we have limitations; in the future, we’ll enjoy fullness. At the present, our knowledge is partial; in eternity, we’ll have unfettered awareness.

In Paul’s day, mirrors were made out of metal. They were helpful, but inexact. The images people saw approximated reality; they were valuable, but incomplete.

But the apostle doesn’t promise believers a perfect mirror in heaven. Instead, he describes a “face to face” encounter. With whom? The Lord Jesus Christ! Our thirst for knowledge of self (and everything around us) will find satisfaction when we meet our Savior. In His presence, we’ll find our answers.

What about now? How do we manage until that day arrives?

Paul tells us.

“But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB)

Every moment and every day, we who follow Jesus have the capacity to change. His Spirit is at work in us, conforming us to Christlikeness. Seeing that glorious image in a mirror reminds that this is our destiny. From one glory to another, the Spirit cultivates in us the character of Jesus Christ.

What is that mirror? To see the glory of the Lord, what do we look upon? Based on the content of chapter three, it’s the words and ministry of the gospel.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! – 2 Corinthians 3:6-11

The Law of Moses was attended with glory, but the gospel makes us glorious! In Christ, God sets us right; His plan for our lives gets established and unfolds. And the Holy Spirit carries out this marvelous work until the end.

Of course, we have a role to play, too! As the apostle James reminds us,

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it–they will be blessed in what they do. – James 1:23-25

The Holy Spirit is working, but we should be, too. Otherwise, we become forgetful; we lose track of who we are and what God’s called us to do. Gazing at ourselves in a mirror does us little good if we don’t remember what we saw. But acting on what we’ve seen–that bolsters our memory!

In the same way, practicing what the Bible tells us forms our souls; it fulfills who we are in Christ. We remember His Word when we act on it.

Who we are is more than a fixed image; we’re persons made in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. In the company of His Word and the community of the faithful, we see ourselves. We learn who we are. 

We can’t do this on our own.

But we’re not alone.

We have His help.