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Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special podcast.

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Well, good afternoon. We're here, the Westside Lectures, and I'm standing in the pulpit of Mark Roberts. This is amazing. You got every compartment needed, man. This is really something. I am really thankful to be here. Mark asked me last November if I would be willing to be a part of this and to share a part of my story, which I hope some of that brings goodness to your life, and to just know that this is an event that many anticipate, and here we are. And praise God for that. I'm thankful you're here. Before we get into any of this, I just want to say thank you. To the leadership here at Westside, thank you for letting me be a part of something that really matters. And to all of you who sent messages, all of those prayers, those emails, and all the words of encouragement along the way, it's been more than you know. It's been so special. Seriously, you guys are something, and I thank you for that. Now, I have to say, I love the theme for this weekend. The theme is, what is in your backpack? And it's clever, it's memorable, but if you let it, that question, what's in your backpack, actually digs a lot deeper than it may seem at first. Because this journey from earth to heaven, it's not just something that you drift your way through. Whether you're 18 or you're 83, Your life is not standing still. You're becoming someone. And this road that we're on is full of trouble. Not just the kind that hits from the outside, but the kind that creeps in underneath. The stuff that nobody else can see, but you feel it. The stuff that stirs you up inside and quietly shapes the kind of person that you're turning into right now. Things like the temptation to compromise when no one's looking, or the pressure to blend in, to not be that kid who takes God too seriously. The constant overthinking, the nonstop comparing, that sneaky feeling that somehow you're not enough or worse, that if people saw the real you, they wouldn't stick around. Or how about the fear of missing out? The fear of standing out? Or maybe it's the guilt you don't know what to do with. The shame you're scared someone might eventually see. That exhausting cycle of trying to look strong, stay chill, keep up, and not let anything crack through the surface. You know what I'm talking about. That's what's really going on underneath. And if you're not equipped to face it, if you're not rooted into something deeper, you'll drift or you'll perform. You might shut down. Or worse, you'll forget who you actually are. And here's the truth. In the world you're growing up in, that kind of confusion about what our identity is, is everywhere. You're being shaped constantly. And when that pressure hits, you're going to need more than just willpower, my friend. You'll need clarity. You'll need the ability to really see yourself, to get honest about what's going on under the surface. And that's why, for this weekend, I brought us all a message about a mirror. Now, it may not seem like much. I've thought a lot about this. It could have been something like a sword. That's powerful. And that's kind of just what might be expected from a sermon. Or it might not be as adventurous as a compass, talking about navigating through life. But without a mirror, you're walking blind. Without a mirror, you can move through life looking the part. saying the right things and fooling just about anybody and still not realize who you're actually becoming. Because it's one thing to look spiritual, but it's an entirely different thing to get the mirror and look at it honestly. As for me, that kind of honesty took a while to show up. I spent my teenage years wearing the name Christian. Notice I got air quotes for that. Wearing the name Christian without actually following Christ. And the scariest part, I think I had everybody fooled. I think I had everyone to the point of where I look the part and talk the part and blend it in, but underneath all of that, I wasn't being transformed. I was just performing. But more about all of that later. I just want you to hear from this point that it's that sort of life that a mirror is going to expose. And that's where real change begins. So since we're here, let's plan to not just glance at the word and move on like everything's fine. That can happen pretty easily. Let's not pretend we're good just because we showed up. Let's stop for a minute today and slow down and take a real look at where we are and who we're becoming and what needs to change. Now I'll go ahead and let the figurative cat out of the bag, getting into James 1, that's the territory that we're going to be starting in. A few of the verses, at least the ones that start the primary points, will be on the screen to kick us off. There will be a few verses kind of in between that I'll throw out there, not really give you any time to get to it, but repeat it maybe a time or two to take note of it. and then we'll grip into it and move a little bit further into our lesson. But James 1 puts it pretty plainly. That is not the one who glances into the mirror that walks away blessed. It's the one who looks into the mirror and then does something. That's the one who's blessed. That's the person who moves away changed. So that's what I'm praying for today. That you wouldn't just sit through this and hear some words or feel something for just a moment because your toes got stepped on. But that you would let the word work on you. And that you would do as it's intended to do, to speak. And that you would allow it to shape you in the way that you think and in the way that you live. And it's been my hope since I started preparing for this event that you'd see exactly what it is that the mirror shows. And instead of turning away, that you'd have the courage to lean in and face it. So, my new friends, let us all check the mirror together. And let's actually put ourselves in a position to face whatever it shows without the dodging, without the faking. without hiding. You ready? Let's get started. Let's first talk about reflection. And what are you seeing? James chapter 1, that's where we're going to begin here, begins in verse 22, where he says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror, for he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he was like. The mirror won't bring change, but it will expose you. Now, let's be real. Most of us don't look into a mirror because we expect major change. It's not something that we get in front of and expect our height to change from one day to the next. Things like eye color, it's not going to happen. Bicep size, trust me, it's not going to happen in one day. It's going to take time for things like that. So when we look into a mirror, it's not going to bring change. We check it because we want to make sure that we look okay. You check the fit. You check your hair. You angle your face just right so that you don't maybe have to face what you don't like. Spiritually, we often do the same, don't we? We look for just enough truth to feel affirmed, but not enough to be changed. We're good with seeing what we expect to see, what's been there all along, and then walking away without letting anything change. And that's what James is confronting here. He's confronting this to people who listen, but don't live it, who do nothing about it. He's writing to people who were hearing the word, people who showed up, listened, and maybe even agreed with everything that was being told to them, but they weren't changed by it. They weren't doing it. You been there? I know I'm not alone. I hope we can see that clearly looking like a Christian isn't the same as being one. There's a good chance I don't stand alone in this, but that's where I lived for a very long time. As a teenager before giving my life to Christ at 19, I wore the cross necklace. I had a WWJD bracelet, two of them in fact. One of them was maroon and white to match my high school colors. Go dear. And that was what stood out. I said, yes, sir. I said, no, ma'am. I wasn't living wild. In fact, if you saw me from the outside, you'd probably say that I was a good Christian boy. Maybe not Christian, but a good kid. The kind of person who could quote a verse in a setting maybe where it needed to be. I became reverent when we prayed by bowing my head. I was even the kind of guy that some parents pointed at and said, that's the kind of kid I want you around. He's a good example. That was me. But what was I really hoping to see whenever I looked into the mirror? Honestly, I was just looking good. And I was good with just seeing someone who passed the test and not get figured out for who I was whenever I was alone. Someone who didn't look like a problem person. But one thing is for certain, I was not looking for truth. I was good having others think that I was fine as is. Even whenever I made it to professional ball, that didn't change. And just to answer a few questions up front, I played for Tampa Bay back when they were the Devil Rays, kind of ages when I played. They became the Rays in 2008, so kind of do your math there real quick. But even when I made it there, that didn't change. I wasn't fighting people. I wasn't cussing guys out. I wasn't the one that stood out as a problem at all. I stayed under control. And if you would have asked me then if I was right with God, I would have said, yeah. I mean, I believe in him. I bowed my head before games. I kissed my cross necklace before stepping onto the mound because that was the very thing that was going to bring me the luck that I needed. That's who I was. Looking back now, I can tell you exactly what I was doing, and maybe you can connect to this. What I was doing was glancing in the Bible during those occasional church services, nodding at what I liked, highlighting the familiar bumper sticker verses or the ones that maybe I've heard before, just enough to give my Bible some flair whenever maybe someone else saw me open it up. But again and again, I was walking away, unchanged. I wasn't trying to know God. I was learning how to avoid exposure. Because let's be honest, we've got this ability, don't we? It's innate. It's who we are. We're good at hiding. Read Genesis 3 and watch how Adam and Eve did it. To train ourselves maybe to be polished, but not pure. We're good at that too. Or to be good enough for applause, but not honest enough for the change. And just be sure you know this. You won't fool God, but you can fool yourself. And that's the deception that James is talking about. He says when we only hear the word and don't do anything with it, we deceive ourselves. That's heavy, isn't it? To think of the possibility that he doesn't say that Satan is the one that deceives you. He's not the one to blame for this. In fact, you and I are the very ones who have that ability to deceive ourselves. And those are the hardest lies to detect. The ones we've been telling ourselves for years, I'm a good person. God knows my heart. Or at least I'm not doing what they're doing. Those might sound spiritual. But none of them actually require obedience. And none of them actually lead to change. You'll never grow thinking like that. And you won't grow if you're afraid of truth. What are you hoping to see when you go to the mirror of God's Word? Why do you open it up? To appease your conscience because of all those people who keep saying that you need to read it? And to stop hearing the voices until you check that box that day? Is it to keep God from being upset with you or maybe believing you'll have bad luck if you keep avoiding it and you know better? Or are you approaching it with the heart like King David? who in Psalm 139 said this, and I love it because it sticks so well. He said, search me, O God, and know my heart. Man, I dare us all to have that. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Like that is the way to hype yourself into what the word is all about. To get yourself in front of the true reflection of what God intends to do whenever the word lands into your ears and you begin to process it in a way that it's going to start cutting up your thoughts and dividing up those intentions that you've got, those motivations. Now let's take this a step further. What if someone with strong faith and conviction in their walk actually called you out? What would you do? Maybe it's a spouse or a best friend. What if they pointed to something in your life and said, that's not right, and you know it? How would you handle that one? Because that's what happened to me back before I became a Christian. During the two years that I, Leah, and I were dating... We started dating at 17. I graduated at 17. I was drafted to play baseball at 17. That's kind of when life started to just take off. When we were dating, one of the most amazing qualities that she's got turned into a fork in the road for me. She's honest. It's a gift. I used to say that she was honest to a fault because I hated it. It always cut me. She's the kind of person that if you try to work a joke on someone like April Fool's, she would blow it because she's just too honest to let the other person have their selves feel silly. She's that kind of girl. But it's a good gift to have. She's just wired to tell the truth, especially whenever it matters. And one Sunday, that truth got me hard. We were sitting in a worship service together where she was worshiping at the Southside Church in Pasadena, and the Lord's Supper tray came down the row as it did every week, which I wasn't used to. I was used to kind of the quarterly thing. I think that's where we did in the local place we were growing up. But the tray came to her, she partook, and then she passed it back down the other direction. And I looked at her and asked, what about me? She said, you're not a Christian. I was hot. I was angry. I remember just being really upset about that. Those are the kinds of things that get your pits sweating immediately because you just know you're not able to do something about it in that moment and you got to hold it in. That's what she did. by being honest you're not a Christian I was furious but that was a defining moment soon after she then gave me the ultimatum to change your life or we may not end up staying together so this is just right before I had become a Christian a couple years into our dating in that whole season exposed something in me that I hadn't seen before I thought that I was a Christian think about this I thought being at church and saying the right things meant that I was right with God. But I wasn't seeking truth. All I was doing was waltzing around seeking affirmation, to blend in, to be with the crowd. I was looking for those around me that I could tag along with, do what they were doing, all because they had the appearance of being a Christian. Especially if they did sinful stuff in secret and could keep it a secret. That was my plan. But this wasn't improving my life, and Leah saw right through it. Because here's the thing, you can't be changed by a mirror that you're afraid to look into. And you'll never grow if all you want is to look the part. You're going to have to face the truth and change. How about this for truth? You can grow up in the church and still miss heaven. Some of you have been raised around spiritual things your entire life. You've been praised for being respectful. You've heard enough lessons to fill journals. But deep down, you know that maybe you haven't let the Word cut you open, like what we see in the Hebrews letter, chapter 4, verse 12. That's one to highlight right there, my friend. Because Hebrews 4, verse 12 says that the Word of God is living and active. sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It's going to get you if you get yourself in front of it and get honest with it. And if that's you, don't tune this part out. That tension doesn't mean that your faith is fake if you feel something like you're getting stepped on right now. It doesn't mean your faith is fake. It means God is still pursuing you. It means His Spirit is still reaching when you hear truth, because that's who He is. He is truth. And what it should tell you is that there's something in the mirror that's waiting to be faced. This is because the mirror of God's Word reveals what we'd rather ignore. That stuff that's not always flattering. Sometimes what you see is pride or maybe what you see is insecurity or maybe it's just lust. Maybe it's fear. Sometimes it's guilt that you've buried or lies you've believed about yourself and keep getting reminded of day after day after day because you're tired of hiding it. But until you see it, you can't deal with it. which means you won't become like Christ by accident. That's why keeping a mirror in the backpack matters. And this is the imagery that James brings into view because no one becomes like Christ by accident. No one matures by proximity, by just being here, close to people who are doing things that are Christian things. For example, being in church or the Bible studies. at camps, at youth lectureships, or just having a best friend who's a Christian or parents who are. These things do not automatically result in spiritual maturity. Spiritual growth requires honesty. We're going to talk more about that in just a little bit. And honesty starts when we stop managing how people see us and we begin surrendering to what God shows us. Christianity is not about looking good in front of others. It's not about showing up at all of the right places at all of the right times. It's about letting God show you what's going on on the inside and then responding to that. And the mirror will not lie. But it also won't force you to change. That's on us. Because you can't become a Christian by accident. As we get into this next big portion, just give yourself a moment to think. Are you noticing something going on right now within you? Give me a little bit of a shift in how you're thinking through who you are today and what you've been. Are you noticing a different reflection right now? Are these words bringing some things to light? Because now we're going to be talking about resemblance. What you look like, what you're similar to, what you are like. So resemblance, the question whose image are you being shaped into? Romans chapter 8 verse 29 is the part we're going to focus on for just a moment here to get us started into this point. Romans 8 29 says, For those whom he foreknew... He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, God had a plan from the beginning. And here it is. That for everyone who follows him to be changed to live and act like Jesus. That's the plan. Whenever you come to him and he begins to interact with you and you have all of these things begin to take place in your life because his word starts to show you things that you've never heard before, that's the plan that he's had. To then have those things form you into something. And that's what we're going to be talking about now for the next few minutes because this verse tells you exactly what God's plan is. Not just for your future destination, but for your present formation. He's not trying to make you a slightly better version of yourself. He's not working to clean up your bad habits so that you can live a good, successful life. He's conforming you, reshaping you like a potter does to clay. And he's doing all of this into the image of his son, Jesus. So here's kind of the way to think about it. Every time that you begin to learn or hear about Jesus, be all ears because that's exactly what it is that you're intended to hear so that you could begin making more of that process happen. That's the goal. That's the mirror God holds up to our life. So we don't just reflect, we resemble. Again, we see what we're similar to and that's kind of just the way that things begin to shape themselves. Mirrors don't just show us what we look like. Over time, we start to resemble what we admire. That's the difference between seeing and becoming. Now you may not even realize that it's happening, but the people that you watch, the things that you follow, all of these are imitating. You're being shaped by them. The priorities that people carry, the type of words that they use, their language, their values. This verse comes to mind here. This is 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, where it says that we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord... are being transformed into the same image. That means this, what you admire will shape who you become. Over time, you start to look like what you're staring at, what you're filling your life with. You constantly think about what you let yourself see and begin to hear regularly. That's how this works. That's what we're seeing here in the scriptures. So here's the question now that we've got to ask ourselves. What's forming your identity? Whose reflection are you chasing in this life? I should say, in this season of your life? Is it a version of you that you've propped up in your own mind? Who you'll become if you just keep feeding that one desire? Or is it the image of someone else? Someone that you admire? Or maybe someone that you envy? Maybe what you scroll past most every day and think, if I could just be more like that. Because here's the thing about mirrors. Sometimes the one you're staring into is not glass. We'll talk more about that in just a bit. Sometimes the one you're staring into is not glass. Maybe it's another person's life. You see? And before long, what you fixate on becomes what you follow. That was me. My identity was baseball. Hence the baseball player in the mirror there. And I was borrowing a reflection. So let me take you back for just a moment. Once baseball became my profession, that life became my idol. And I wanted to be seen like the other guys who were already there, guys who were in the locker room well before I was. Guys, man, they were married, had babies. That's not what I was looking forward to the most, but just the fact they were older than me and there was this presentation of that's then what I will become in time. And so there's an impression that immediately takes place. And here's the thing, I watch them. Not because of their character, but it's because of their status. That's the one thing about pro ball. Everyone's an all-star. And everyone's seeking to get to that next level. The way that these people were treated, the money that they had, the attention that they got, the fame that they were receiving. Whenever you leave the locker room, the types of things that you get opportunities for. I admire the way that they walked and talked and carried themselves. They were professional baseball players. And here I was, 17 years old, stepping right into it. So I started mimicking it. Not because someone told me to, but because it looked like success, and I admired their success. I saw myself getting what they got, so I sought it. And what I didn't see at the time was how dangerous that was. Now, I want to staple something into this, a scripture right quick for us to see a connection, because Galatians 4.19, where Paul says this, Galatians 4.19, he says to these... young in the faith Christians, he says, I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. So there was this pain that he had within him for these people that he was overseeing in a way that their growth was important to him. He's teaching them in many powerful ways. But what Paul is saying to these people is I'm hurting for you like a mother in labor because I want to see Jesus truly formed in your life. Not just on the outside, but deep in your heart and in your identity. Everything that you do, that's what I'm hoping is happening here. And that's what he's saying in that way that he expressed himself. Now at that time in my life, I had no interest of Christ being formed in me. For the first time in my life, I was away from home, from mom and dad. Any authority that I had over me all of those years growing up, gone. Gone. Aside from just maybe a weekend getaway that we'd play with the summer ball team, this was the biggest thing that I've ever done in getting away from home. I get sent off to the East Coast in Princeton, West Virginia. Never heard of it likely because very few people live there. It's a wonderful place. But that's minor league ball for you at the lowest level. You're pretty much by yourself with the exception of the men who are with you in your locker room. So instead of Christ being formed in me, A brand was. A persona was getting established. And it was happening really fast. I didn't think to ask God what he wanted for my life at that time. I was chasing the reflection of what others already had. And that's how this happens. But then I finally came face to face with the words of Christ and everything changed. Like you heard earlier, I became a Christian at 19. And when I became a Christian, it wasn't just this churchy change that happened to me where things begin to look a little bit different. It wasn't some spiritual-level guy, that surface-level spiritual change that I was having. I was convicted by the Lord. I saw the truth for the first time in my life. And I understood the cost and I surrendered all as we sing. And it took no time for me to see how the world I was in didn't fit me anymore. Because here's what happens whenever Christ starts shaping your heart. Is that the world that once felt like home starts to feel really foreign. It feels out of place and strange and uncomfortable. Now, as you might imagine, as a professional pitcher, another detail, left-handed pitcher, as a professional pitcher, you've got to live with grit. It's to your advantage to hate your opponents, to give them chim music and brush them off your plate. That's baseball lingo as if to say, you're in the way, I'm going to get you out. Even though you think you're going to dominate this at bat, I'm going to get you because I don't like you. In fact, you want my job, I'm going to take your job. And that's the way you approach it. And whenever there's a bench clearing fight, just so you know, if you don't get off the bench, get on the field, support your teammates, get their back, you're going to get fined. Just the way it is. And if you go on the field and fight, you're going to get fined. It's just kind of a way, it's weird. We'll talk about that after. But that's just the tenacity that I had in my life. It didn't matter if you were somebody on my team, I was going to back you up. That's just who I was. That's who I had been for quite some time. But also, you gotta give your loyalty to the game, to the team, to the grind. Being one of the first to show up, last to leave. I mean, you think about that. In order to be at that kind of level, you have to maintain that kind of level to be the person that makes it to the next level. But that wasn't me anymore. Two years in, there was this shift, dramatically. I didn't want to pitch with that anger. That fire was dying out. The pride of beating you and making you look horrible, if I knocked you down and just made you feel even worse because you were down, that wasn't in me anymore. And I certainly didn't want to compromise the progress I was making as a new Christian just to get promoted from single A to long A, which is kind of the way that things ended up getting to. I was choosing to avoid the extra workouts just to keep my Bible reading alive and to study the stuff that my mentor was giving me. I was eating it up. Loved it. But all in all, as you're hearing in all of this, I gave my allegiance to Jesus Christ. And that meant letting go of every identity that tried to own me. So whenever I was released at 21 years of age, five years into playing, I had no injury, never got injured. I was in peak form when it came to the physicality of who I was. My dad and even a lot of others couldn't understand it. Why aren't you trying out for other teams? You still have so much more things that you can do here with your career. Why are you walking away? You want to do what? You want to preach? You could do that later. And no one seemed to understand. Few did. And they were the people that were in the pews. Little did anyone know that God was changing me. And he was doing it in a hurry. Some may think I'm crazy for this, but my final spring training, a prayer that I made in tears often, God actually answered really fast. I begged God in my hotel room time and time again. I was reading through a lot of the Psalms and just hoping to have this expression of heart that he would hear, but praying for him to give me a path to get back home, to be with the church family, and learn to be a preacher. I know, some may think that's wild, knowing what kind of ticket I had right there in my pocket. But you see, the voice and the dreams of others didn't shape me like it did before. I wasn't admiring the dream that they had for me or even trying to live up to the potential that they thought I had if I just made a few changes about who I was becoming. I wasn't trying to be their version of me. And maybe that's exactly where some of you are. You're being shaped but not by Christ. Maybe it's the voice of a parent or of a coach or of a friend group or of the version of success that someone else has dreamed up for you and you're just tagging along with them. I know what that pressure feels like to become what others want. Instead of who God is calling you to be. But I hope you're beginning to hear that that's where the turning point is. When the mirror stops being about what they expect to see and it starts being about who God is forming you to become. That's why Romans chapter 12 verse 2 is so crucial here. Romans 12.2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. In other words, don't let the world shape your identity from the outside in. You see that? Let God shape you from the inside out. Don't just blend or imitate. Be completely remade. Let him renew how you think, because once that changes, everything else is going to be following. Let his words be the voice that you're listening to, not someone else's who thinks they know better. The world wants to fit you into its mold, my friend, but God wants you to be remade in his image. And here's a warning. Not all mirrors have glass. We heard that just a moment ago, and here's what this means. Some of you already are already following a reflection. And you may not even begin to realize what is happening until today. That'd be awesome if that's what you see now is happening in your life. Because sometimes it's a person doing that. Sometimes it's a trend, sometimes maybe like a boyfriend or a teammate or a friend group or some YouTuber that's an influencer, or even just your own parents like I had with my dad. So let me ask you, who is shaping your standard for life? For what matters in this season of your life? For what matters in the future for your life? Who's shaping that? What voice speaks loudest. Because whoever that is, that's who you're slowly becoming. And the danger in that, it doesn't always look wrong. That's why 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33, I would imagine that Phil might have some of this to speak about in a little bit, so we'll be brief. But it's that familiar punchy verse, another good highlighting one, do not be deceived. Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. The deception, it's subtle. It creeps in. It's not a full-blown rebellion that you begin to have at home and people are concerned about what you're doing. It's quieter than that. It's not someone waving a red flag and saying, run the other direction. No, no, no, no. It's a phrase here or a mood shift there or some sarcasm. Maybe a softened conviction or a new tone or some kind of new outfit that begins to just go across the line and where maybe you have ever thought to go before. A little compromise, you tell yourself that, eh, it's not that deep. And before you even realize it, you're fading, slowly moving away from resembling Jesus and slowly starting to resemble someone else. You see, not all mirrors reflect. But here's the truth nobody likes to talk about. The world's version of you isn't made to last. The world will shape you just enough to get what it wants from you. but not enough to save your soul. It'll train you to perform. It'll teach you to blend in. It'll teach you to get noticed, to win praise. And for a while, it's going to work. It's going to almost seem like this is God blessing me in my life, and this is certainly the best thing for me. And you might even love what you begin to see in the mirror. But underneath all of that hype, there's a hollow version of you that's not built to endure. The world will sell you a version of yourself that looks strong on the outside but is empty on the inside, the kind that grabs for attention, but it has absolutely no eternal value. And you build your life on that. Colossians 3, verse 10 says, Paul says here to put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. What God is telling us is that when you put on the new you, the version that is called to follow Jesus, you start becoming renewed as you learn more and more about who God is. When that knowledge begins to get into your life and you see things differently, The more you come to know him, the more you begin to get shaped to live like him. And that's the point. God's not interested in tweaking the old you. He's not wanting to bargain with you keeping some things and he just says, let's keep this and then let's try to change this. He's not out here trying to make your broken pattern slightly more manageable, my friend. He's not trying to patch you up. What you see is that he's remaking you. That's where your identity comes from. This is where peace starts. This is where purpose takes off. That's when your life stops feeling like an act and starts feeling like it's actually anchored. Unlike the world's version of you that isn't made to last, But here's what's so easy to forget, especially whenever the world still calls your name and just gives you the underbelly to say, keep going in that, you're doing good, is that you don't reflect the world you left. You resemble the one who saved you. If you are in Christ, your life has been purchased. It's been bought. You don't belong to the locker room. You don't belong to the current culture. You don't belong to the people who say you should look like this and think like this or even live like this. You belong to God. You were bought with blood and now you're being shaped into the reflection of his son. So I want to press you here before we get into the last big idea. Because some of you are at the edge of a decision. You're about to step into a new season of your life, whether you're about to leave home or you're going to be joining some dorm mates for the first time and having all of this time by yourselves without the authority, starting school, changing friend groups, trying to figure out who you really are because so much is happening so fast. And here's the thing. If you don't know whose you are, Christian, you'll eventually become who the world tells you to be. because that's how it works. What starts as admiration slowly turns into imitation. And imitation, over time, starts to shape your direction. It shapes your choices, it shapes your habits, your sense of worth, until one day you wake up and you're not sure who you're even becoming anymore. You're lost. So before we move on, just sit with this for a second. Right now in this season of your life with the people who surround you, who influence you, who speak into you, who shape your sense of normal, whose image are you being shaped into? So let's go to the third big idea, finally. Renewal. What are you becoming? James chapter one, verse 25. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. So here's where all of this comes together. Everything that we've looked into up to this point, now gets tied into this one powerful verse. Because James isn't just pointing out a problem here. James is giving us the path forward. And here's the truth that we need to hold on to from all of this. Is that the mirror of God's word isn't just for seeing. It's for changing. Notice James doesn't stop at the problem. He gives us the solution. If you got your Bibles, notice a couple of different words here. He gets to the point of don't just glance at it. Don't just hear it and then acknowledge it and feel good about what you're hearing. Notice first he says to persevere, meaning stick with it. Don't just skim a verse and feel something and then just move on. Stay in it. Keep coming back to that. Let the word keep pressing on the parts of you that you tend to want to pull away from. Persevere. And then he says after that to act. In other words, don't just nod at what you read. Do something with it. Let it mess with how you think. Let it shift the way you talk. Let it completely interrupt the way that you're living your life today. That's what he's calling for here. Because the word, it was never just to fill your head. It's meant to change you, to do something in you, to make you new from the inside out. That's its plan. You will not change until you stop glancing and start obeying. That's the difference between someone who glances and forgets versus someone who looks, obeys, and then becomes. And James says that the one who does this stuff that they're hearing, well, that's the person, that's the one that's going to be blessed. After Leah gave me that ultimatum of, hey, change your life or I'm dumping you, basically, she eventually encouraged me to study with her preacher. And you may have heard of the guy. He's kind of big where I'm from. Not in stature, but his name. Bubba Garner? No? I knew I should have said Dee Bowman. Bubba's the one who taught me. And finally, I had someone challenge me. For the first time, someone privately opened the Word and asked me how I actually lined up with what I was reading. All those years, no one had done that. And in that study, the moment came whenever I realized that I had spent all of this time glancing in the mirror, hoping just to see enough to feel spiritual, but not enough to have to change anything. But then the words started to cut through. I remember reading what Paul wrote. This is from Ephesians 4. This is verse 22, and it goes through verse 24. Ephesians 4. Verse 22, he says to put off your old self. I mean, that alone we could pause and think through, and that in itself is challenging. But now think about the setting, being into this position, having someone read through this with me, and hearing these words, put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. And put on the new self. Created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. Now you begin to see the seesaw of those two different types of people that I was living like in my life. And boy, deception got me gripped. It had me in a chokehold. So what this verse was about for me in that moment wasn't about becoming a better version of myself. It was about becoming new. A completely different person who's formed by truth, no longer by performance. You see, for the first time ever, I saw clearly. This wasn't about learning how to apply more makeup into the mirror to be a better hypocrite. It was about laying myself down. And that's what I did. That same night. I was baptized into Christ. I didn't wait for another sign or make a checklist of improvements first. I obeyed. And that's when things actually started to change. Not because I figured out how to get more deceptive, but because I finally got honest. And I did what God was actually calling me to do. Now, many don't talk much about this next part. At least not enough. Not in our friend groups, sometimes not even from the pulpit, especially not with ourselves when we look into the word. But it matters a lot more than we think. Is that looking good is not the same as being honest. Are you with me? Because the world celebrates a lot of good people. I mean, we think through this, we've got good teammates and good classmates. good neighbors, good childhood friends, good students, good citizens. And let's face it, guys, churches are full of good people too. People who are polite, people who serve, people who show up to events on Saturday afternoons. People who don't cuss, don't party. People who know where to find the book of Philippians like that. But being seen as good is not the same as being honest before our God who sees all. Because good people can hide. Right, Caleb? Good people can fake it and can nod through sermons and keep journals and highlight their Bibles while quietly living in dishonesty before the God who sees everything. My friends, that's the danger of a polished image. You can convince everyone else and lose yourself in the process. And the truth is, there's a lot of good people getting talked about at their funerals every day as they lay their lifeless in their casket. They're getting praised and admired and respected, but only God knows who was ever truly honest before him. That's why the mirror matters. It doesn't just show where you're making stuff up, it reveals your heart. And that's what Jesus was after in Luke chapter 8. I love this version of the parable of the soils, as opposed to Matthew. I like them both, but this one says something specifically that I want you to note, and then we're pretty much going to be done here. But in this particular verse, Luke 8, 15, this is at the end of the parable of the soils when he's explaining it all. And he's talking about when the seed that landed on the good soil, he says this in Luke 8, 15, ask for that seed or ask for that in the good soil. He says, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and And good heart. And they bear much fruit with patience. Now, I hope you caught that because I emphasized it. Honest. Jesus didn't say a good heart. He says an honest and good. Again, there's a lot of good people. So many we love. But the truth is you can look respectful and still resist repentance. You can act spiritual, say the right things. Again, carry a Bible with your name engraved on the cover in gold. That's what I had. Had 14 years old, given to it for my birthday. And able to sit there in a pew every single week and still refuse to surrender all. See, all those are good things. But let's just face the mirror of Jesus' words for just a moment in this parable and ask the question, am I being unworthy? Honest. Like completely honest. Not mostly. Let's take it a step further here. Are you honest in your prayers or do you just say what sounds spiritual? Are you honest about your struggles or do you downplay what's really going on? Are you honest when God convicts you Or do you find ways to brush it off and stay comfortable and complacent? Are you honest in how you treat people when no one's looking? Do you bless them with your lips but curse them in your heart? Let's be honest. Are you honest with your doubts? Or do you pretend they're not there? Are you honest about your habits? your private life, your motives? Are you honest enough to admit that maybe, just maybe, you're more interested in looking good than being changed? Because this is all the stuff the mirror reveals. Not just your Sunday version, not just your Instagram version, but the real version, the one that God already sees. And he's not asking for perfection. He's just asking for honesty. Because that's the seed that becomes fruitful. Which I think we see is not the same as looking good. Now one last thing before we close. Just know the mirror won't change you. But it'll show you where to start. This journey from earth to heaven... doesn't just happen because you look the part. It doesn't come from knowing the right answers or having some solid church routine. It happens when your life actually lines up with what God says. And that starts when you stop managing your image and start getting honest about where you really are today. Because here's the thing about mirrors, they don't fix you. They don't change your heart. They don't move your feet. But they do always tell the truth. They show you what's off. They show you what's been hidden. They show you what needs to be dealt with. And they do not lie. But they also won't force you to do anything. That part's on you. So maybe this is where you are right now. Maybe all your time around God's word has mostly been about keeping up the look, showing up, staying out of trouble, checking the boxes so that no one asks the questions that are tough to answer. Maybe you've been using the mirror to adjust the angle so that you don't have to face the issue. You're making sure people see your best side while quietly ignoring what's really going on underneath. Let me just ask you as straight as I can. When you leave here, when you zip up the bag and head back to real life, what are you going to do with the mirror when you look into it? Will you keep using it to face the truth? Or will it get stuffed at the bottom of the backpack buried underneath everything else while you move on unchanged? Because this journey from earth to heaven, it's not one through image management or spiritual performance. It's only possible through endurance. And the only way to endure is to fix your eyes on the one who's already run the race and who did it perfectly, who finished it. And that's why I want to share this last idea with you from Hebrews 12, verse 1. Let us lay aside every weight. I almost chose weight to put into the backpack. We don't want to be carrying that too long. We need to strip that from ourselves. But he says, lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. That's the challenge. Not to run while dragging around the version of you that's weighed down with secret habits and unspoken guilt or the pressure to keep up a polished reputation. That's not what Jesus is asking for. He's calling you and I to lay it all down and to run with honesty. Maybe it's time to stop trying to look like a Christian and start becoming one. So before you go back to school, back to your team, back to your circle, open the backpack, check the mirror, and ask yourself, am I ready for heaven?

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Thanks for listening to the West Side Church of Christ podcast. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, justchristians.com, and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two P's, U-P-P-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again.