The Mirror

Read

Matthew 7:1-6 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Think

Lisa and I were at an Italian restaurant not too long ago. Nice place. Candlelight. Good pasta. But when I looked down at the table, I noticed something. Every single place setting had a phone sitting next to the silverware. Right there beside the fork and the knife, like it was part of the arrangement. Nobody planned it that way. Nobody made a conscious decision to set their phone down as part of the dining experience. It just happened. Technology had become so woven into the meal that the phone was as natural as a napkin.

That image stuck with me. Because it told me something about where we are as a culture. Technology is not something we use anymore. It is something we wear. It is part of us. It is at the table, in the car, on the nightstand, in the bathroom, at church. It is the last thing we look at before we close our eyes and the first thing we reach for when we open them. The phone has become an extension of the hand. And the hand reveals the heart.

And here is what I have come to believe after years of watching this play out: technology is a mirror. It reflects back who we really are. The phone in your pocket does not make you prideful. It reveals the pride that was already there. The tablet on your desk does not create lust. It gives lust a delivery system. The laptop does not manufacture envy. It puts envy on a conveyor belt that runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

I was touring a gorgeous new house once, and the place had mirrors everywhere. Floor to ceiling. In the hallways, above the fireplace, in every bathroom. It was like walking through a house of reflections. But then it hit me: the most pristine mirror in our lives is not hanging on a wall. It is the phone in our pocket. The tablet on the nightstand. The laptop on the desk. Those screens show us our real selves more clearly than any piece of glass ever could. Your browsing history is a mirror. Your search history is a mirror. The accounts you follow, the posts you linger on, the content you consume when nobody is watching. All of it reflects what is going on inside.

I did an informal poll once, just asking people around me: do you think technology is mostly good or mostly bad? Every single person said mostly bad. Every one. And these were not Luddites living off the grid. These were normal people with smartphones and social media accounts. They knew the tool was powerful. They also knew the tool was exposing something in them that they did not want to see. Nobody said the phone was the enemy. They said the phone told them the truth about themselves, and the truth was uncomfortable.

Jesus said something in Matthew 7:6 that most people skip right past: "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." In the digital age, we throw our pearls before pigs constantly. We cast our most sacred moments, our deepest convictions, our family life, into spaces where people trample them. We hand over our attention, our time, our emotional energy to platforms that could not care less about our spiritual health. Jesus was giving his followers a PhD in discernment. He was saying: not every space deserves what you have to offer. Not every audience deserves your vulnerability. Not every platform deserves your presence.

Technology is not the problem. What we do with it is. The mirror does not create the reflection. It reveals it. And the reason that should matter to you is because the reflection tells the truth even when you would rather look away. If you pick up your phone and the first thing you do is scroll through feeds that stir up comparison, that is the mirror talking. If you reach for the screen late at night and end up in places you know you should not be, that is the mirror talking. If your digital life looks nothing like your Sunday morning life, the mirror is showing you a gap between who you say you are and who you actually are.

The good news is that a mirror is not a judge. A mirror does not condemn you. It simply shows you what is there. And when God shows you what is there, he does not do it to shame you. He does it to free you. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is not condemnation. It is an invitation. It says, "Look at this. Now let me change it."

Think back to that Italian restaurant. The phones at every place setting. The silverware and the screens, side by side. The question is not whether you will pick up the phone. You will. We all will. The question is what the phone reveals when you do. What does the mirror show? And are you willing to let God use that reflection to change you from the inside out?

Apply

Check the mirror – Before you pick up your phone today, ask yourself: what is my technology use reflecting about my heart? Spend the first five minutes of screen time in Scripture instead of scrolling.

Pray

Father, I confess that I do not always use the tools you have given me wisely. My phone, my screens, my feeds... they reveal things about my heart that I would rather not see. Open my eyes to what the mirror is showing me. Give me the courage to look honestly and the wisdom to make changes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.