I recently saw myself in some photos taken by a friend. It was a hard experience for me in a couple ways but the first thing I noticed was how large I was compared to my friend. I noticed my chinneck in all it's glory. The most startling revelation to me was how surprised I was that I looked that way through the lens of a camera.
I've gotten pretty good at taking selfie's. I know what my physical "flaws" are and know how to angle the camera to hide those things. I had apparently gotten so good at it that I had some how convinced myself that the ideal version I imaged myself as, was the truth. It reminded me of a couple of pictures I took while I was with my mother at the zoo. We were talking about the art of the selfie and so I took the two photos below and handed the camera to my mother.
"When did you take these?" she asked me.
"Just now. Both of them."
She looked at me with shock. There are no filters on these photos, and I wasn't trying real hard, because it was meant as a quick demonstration of what a slight angle change can do.
This revelation was more than an insight into our perceptions on appearance. It highlighted my natural tendency to forget my flaws through self deception. Our physical flaws are easy to mitigate with makeup, constricting undergarments, camera angles and various other efforts. Our internal flaws are sometimes easier to hide. Especially from ourselves. The human capacity for forgetting is a double edged sword to be sure. Just like my ability to adjust my actions and habits to hide my physical flaws, I do the same with my internal ones.
James 1: 23-27 ESV
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Lie's, no matter what they are about, thrive in hiding, in forgetting. Not only is the passage in James a reminder that our focus should, first and foremost, be on God (and the Word He gave us, as it is our defense against forgetting what is true and important about life) but that we shouldn't forget. James reminds us that we are capable of great self deception and self-centeredness and gives us the answer to both. The Word of God. We hide our flaws to deceive but very rarely is that deception more effective than it is on ourselves. Abiding in God's Word and living it out is the antithesis of selfishness. This truth is so much deeper and far reaching than a simple sentence.
God uses His Word to expose the hidden. Sometimes that means sharing part of the mystery of God Himself. Sometimes that means revealing our own flaws. No matter how ugly we find them, the truth always puts them in the proper light. That doesn't mean I'm going to revel in my flaws, as our society seems to do, nor does it mean I'm going to wallow in the ugliness of them. Hiding our shame is a very old instinct. Just like Adam and Eve, God gently calls us out on our deception. Abiding in the truth of God's Word means that my flaws must be acknowledge and left in the Teacher's hands while He lifts my gaze to Him and the world around me. I'm supposed to be glorifying His name after all, not mine.
