This is the beginning of a line from the story, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” I guess the Disney movie uses “Magic Mirror on the Wall” but the original story uses “Mirror, Mirror.” It’s the beginning of a question being posed to a magic mirror by an evil queen who wants to be told that she’s the fairest one of all, meaning the most beautiful woman in the land. Problems ensue when the mirror tells the queen that Snow White is the fairest in the land. It’s an odd thing: mirrors; we look in them all the time, shaving, applying makeup, checking for pimples, whatever. And we think that it allows us to see what we look like, but does it really do that? I’d say yes and no, depending upon how you want to think about it. In one sense it does give us a rendition of what we look like, but if we could see through the eyes of somebody else what we would see would be completely turned around. The side of our face that appears to be our left side in the mirror is actually our right side—you have to think about this a little bit to get what I’m saying. When people are looking at us, the left side of our face appears on their right, in the mirror the left side of our face appears on the left.  It’s kind of funny to think about it; what we see in the mirror is opposite of what other people see when they look at us. In a way we never see our actual face; we only see a facsimile of it in the mirror. How weird is that? That’s why we appear different in photographs. Photos are facsimiles of how others see us rather than mirror images. Along the same line, it’s possible to see a mirror image of someone without actually seeing them face to face. What I mean is that two people could be standing at opposite ends of a mirror with a partial wall between them. The wall prevents them from seeing each other directly, but the mirror allows them to see each other at an angle. They can see each other but in some respects it’s not true to life.

This phenomenon reminds me of a very powerful section of scripture in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

Notice that Paul makes reference to our mirror image, using it to say that for the time being our reflection is unclear, meaning we see ourselves “dimly.” Later—that is ultimately—we will see things as they really are—that is: “face to face.” The whole chapter is a discussion regarding our walk with the Lord, and Paul went to great lengths to distinguish between what we do and who we really are, giving primary attention to the fundamental nature of love. Without love anything we do is tainted, rendering our actions invalid, or at least diminished. How can that be? How can we have the faith to “remove mountains,” exhibit the “spirituals” of tongues and prophecy, have a “full” knowledge of the Gospel, giving up our very lives in service toward God and still miss it?

It’s an enigma, and I mean that literally. When Paul said that we’re seeing in a mirror “dimly,” the original Greek word is a form of the word “enigma”—my Bible adds a note suggesting that it’s a “riddle.” Our understanding of ourselves as Christians is puzzling if we’re paying attention. If we’re just following in step at the current pace of the church we attend, then things may appear optimal, meaning as they’re expected to be. All systems are normal. We’re reading our Bibles regularly; attending Church as we should be; helping folks in need, as is appropriate; maybe even serving on a short-term missions trip. And yet apparently we may be coming up short! What is the Apostle talking about? Thinking about it reminds me of encounters with the Lord in the Old Testament; encounters in which people were concerned about seeing the Lord face to face, with the prospect of dying as a result. (Genesis 32:30; Exodus 19) Apparently that is what Paul anticipated at the end of the age. Instead of seeing an enigma in a mirror, we’ll see the Lord directly and survive. However, Paul is also challenging us with a call to examine ourselves, and, in the process, to consider the basis for our service to the Lord by suggesting that how we see ourselves is also “enigmatic.”

He brings this emphasis by focusing on love; people can engage in significant efforts of service that don’t reflect the fundamental aspect of love, even to the point of exhibiting supernatural evidence of the Lord’s hand in their actions. Why is that important? If you’re getting the job done, why isn’t that sufficient? I think it comes down to the Lord’s intentions from the very beginning of the created order. It’s all about love. God is love and love involves relationship. Although I don’t presume to understand it, I think the Lord’s nature as three in one—the Trinity—prompts a creation that reflects that nature. He is love and exists in a unique “fellowship” of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And He created us in His image—Genesis 1:27—which suggests that we have been created to have fellowship with God and each other; and that fellowship is meant to be an expression of love. We’re meant to be connected to one another, and to God, in a loving fellowship.

But love isn’t love if it’s manufactured. Paul illuminates the nature of love in his letter to the Corinthians. It is love as a fundamental feature of the Lord’s nature that is to be reflected in what we do to serve Him. And our capacity to serve Him in this manner is the result of our fellowship with Him. Right now our fellowship with Him is limited: diminished but anticipated—inaugurated but not consummated—through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We don’t see the Lord as He truly is, nor do we see ourselves clearly but as an enigma. However we can learn of Him and serve Him intentionally, reflecting our relationship with Him as the basis for all that we do. I realize this is a mouthful of ideas that are not easily understood. The very question of what constitutes love prompts some head scratching when we read Paul’s words. It’s a subject that has prompted a myriad of poetry, prose and songs that have sought to express its nature and impact on the human condition. But the ultimate recognition of this feature of human existence is found in God Himself. According to scripture, God is love! He may be described in many other ways, but ultimately the Lord’s nature is love.

When it comes to actually walking out our faith, all that we know, and all that we do that supports, expresses, and establishes the Lord’s interests should be an expression of love. God is love and what we do that furthers His purposes should be initiated by our love for God and His love for us. This was expressed distinctly in one of the Apostle John’s letters.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

Furthermore, Jesus declared that it was in fellowship with God, a fellowship defined by love, that true results consistent with the Lord’s purposes and character are accomplished.

“Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

And abiding in Him is defined by love.

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” (John 15:8-9)

What fruit is being talked about? It’s the fruit that exalts our Lord above all others. It’s the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit as Paul pointed out when he stated that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

And the love that God exemplifies is reflected in the works that exalt our God and are the result of our fellowship with Him! There’s no place for personal notoriety, or the establishment of institutions that exalt its members. The church is an essential place to be connected with God if its primary purpose is to exalt the Lord and reflect His love for all. But when it becomes an institution that’s defined by the number of its attendants, the lavishness of its structures, or even the extent of its outreach, it’s no longer a reflection of the nature of God as love. Even the gifts of the Spirit such as tongues and prophecy, are not a true reflection of God if they’re not informed by love.

It might also be said that love is something that must be freely given and freely received. The one thing that the Lord is not able to do is to make us love Him, because if our response to Him is coerced it isn’t really love. We have to make a choice to abide in Him and to love Him above all others. That kind of fellowship can be inaugurated in our lives now and that’s what we’re being prompted to do; but it will only be fully realized when we see Him face to face. Then we will see Him as He is; and it’s then that we’ll become all that we’ve been called to be. There will be no more enigmas, no more riddles.

Halleluiah! Amen and Amen!