What Do You See When You Look in the Mirror?

ANCIENT hand mirrors often were made of metal, as was the bronze mirror shown here. Although powdered pumice stone might be used to polish them, these metal mirrors did not have the fine reflecting surfaces of their modern-day glass counterparts. That is why the apostle Paul could write: “At present we see in hazy outline by means of a metal mirror.” (1 Cor. 13:12) Nevertheless, a person could see his face in one of these mirrors and, if not pleased with what he saw, could try to make some improvement in his appearance.

Using the mirror figuratively for God’s word, the disciple James wrote: “Become doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with false reasoning. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, this one is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, and off he goes and immediately forgets what sort of man he is. But he who peers into the perfect law that belongs to freedom and who persists in it, this man, because he has become, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, will be happy in his doing it.”​—Jas. 1:22-25.

The person who persists in God’s law is not just a respectful listener at Christian meetings. He sees where he needs to make spiritual changes and he makes them with Jehovah’s aid. The apostle Paul showed that in their ministry Christians “reflect like mirrors the glory of Jehovah.” (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:1) So, outstandingly, the thoughtful ‘doer of the word’ is also a “doer of the work” of evangelizing, helping others to see their lives in relation to God’s law. Hopefully, this will move them also to become happy disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.​—Matt. 28:19, 20.