Ever notice how good movies look these days?  Think of the last time you sat in a theater watching the screen, or the last time you were entertained buy any of the arts (music, acting, literature).  You may or may not have realized that you were tuning into more than just art.

Someone once predicted long ago what would happen as the different art forms developed.

"First," they said, "the arts will imitate real life, but soon, life will begin to imitate art."

Is that a bad thing?  What's wrong with that?  Why should it matter which one is giving the image and which one is reflecting the image?  Think of a mirror.  All that a mirror does is reflect the image that appears in front of it.  You can't get mad at a mirror if something undesirable appears in it, if any one is to blame, blame what ever steps in front of the mirror.

No one spends hours in front of a mirror trying to look just like what ever it is they see in the mirror, if anything we spend time in the mirror trying to look differently then what the mirror is showing us.  Imagine rushing to the mirror in the morning with the intention of looking just like whatever it is you see when you first step in front of it.  You will come to the mirror with brushes, combs, creams, and gels, but if your goal is to not look different then what it is you see when you first see yourself, you will say to these items that could have improved your outer image, "What do I need you for?"  You don't come to a mirror trying to reflect it; the mirrors job is to reflect you.  You can't expect a mirror to show you anything other than what you're showing it.

Have you ever heard what happens when you place two mirrors in front of each other?  They reflect each other's image and the reflections go on forever inside of the two mirrors.  Both mirrors are bent on reflecting what is placed in front of them, and neither of the two will call the other to anything higher than itself.  Why do movies and music look and sound so good? Are the special effects really that dope?  Are the beats in the music really that bangin'?  Or is it more because they look and sound just like us?  But wait, if they look and sound just like us, and were looking and sounding just like them, then neither of the two is calling the other to anything higher than itself.

This would not present a problem for us if the God who made us had positive things to say about us.  If that were the case then we would be the safe standard to judge everything in the world by.  But this is not the case.  It is not until we look in the Bible that we hear God say "there is none righteous, no not one!"  And that in us (humans) dwells no good thing (nothing good enough to make God want to save us).  And that we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity, and that our hearts are desperately wicked, meaning that in our hearts we look for ways to be successful at disobeying God.  With movies and music as our mirrors isn't it easy to see that the Bible is not lying.  And even though we see how we look, we smile.  Like those spoken of in the scripture 'we glory in our shame.'  (We are proud of the very things we ought to be ashamed of.)

When we get a hold on the Bible though, we cease to smile at sin, be it our sin, or the sin of someone else.  We see what our sins deserve (hell and worse) and more importantly why our sins deserve this, because of the terrible offence it is to the heart of God when our will and our word replaces His.  In the Bible, God's word is said to be like a mirror (James 1:22-25) one that doesn't just show us what we look like but also what we should look like.  One that will not only reflect us, but show us the one we ought to reflect, Jesus Christ.  To hear God's Word and not put it into practice is to see yourself in the mirror and walk away forgetting how you really look.

Don't be fooled by the standards of this world, when you look in the movie and music mirror, if you are pleased when God is not, that is just proof that you are a sinner in need of a Savior.  By taking the punishment that our sins deserved, Jesus Christ defeated sin and death, being nailed to a cross, and rising from the grave.  When we trust in this, we are made sure of God's love for us and His willingness to forgive our sins and remember them no more.  If you've seen yourself in the mirror of God's Word, no doubt you've got issues to discuss with Him.  I pray that you will never walk away forgetting how you look (through the eyes of God) and the work that needs to be done.

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