When these Christians displayed such a desire for righteousness, the world both admired and hated them. On the one hand, people were thankful that Christians had the courage to make past wrongs right; but on the other hand they deeply resented such integrity. For in the process of seeing righteousness at work in the lives of others, they saw their own hidden sins exposed.
In our own, ordinary, every-day lives we have the opportunity to minister to countless numbers. As believers, some of the people we will come into contact with have been badly mistreated by the angry world who has seen the reflection of themselves in the mirror of God’s people, and may even be cracked or broken. Some of the mirrors are dirty, covered with the smudges, dirt and grime of the weights and cares of the circumstances around them. Some of those mirrors are certain they have gone through too much to ever serve a purpose again. We get the privilege of allowing God to work through us to clean and polish the mirrors of His servants so that they can shine brightly again… Of allowing Him to work through us to repair the broken glass as only He can do... Of restoring the mirror to its original state of reflecting the Glory of God into the world, and exposing the marred image of sin they see when they look into His standard.
Just like we don’t use a soured rag to wipe down our kitchen counters with, God won’t use a dirty cloth to clean with either. Let’s submit ourselves to the “washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26), so that we may indeed “be diligent … [to] be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” (2 Peter 3:14).
Love you all!
Lisa