I see you

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

I SEE YOU

Prov 27:19

19 As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man.

NIV

At this time of this writing we know men did not have the mirrors we use today as the glass mirror was not invented until the mid-1800’s in Germany. However evidence show us at the time of this writing polished copper or other metallic objects were used. These could not reflect as clearly as looking into a pool of perfectly still water. This is the reason the writer makes reference to water reflecting the face. Each man or woman could see exactly what they looked like, for the good or the bad. It would seem we have always wanted to know how we looked to others. Our image has been important for thousands of years as the first type polished objects used as mirrors has been dated some six thousand years old. It would seem our image has been very important. That is the point of the heart. Our heart reflects who we truly are. The scripture says that as a man thinks so is he.

Prov 23:7

7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

NASU

The heart reflects the real self. We might build a great façade around it to cover up the true nature of our heart, but it is what we truly are. This holds true for all mankind. The idea that we can see the face of another and know their image well. We can be far from them and still remember their appearance. We can also see in the heart of another by the general tenor of their words and actions. As we have known throughout our days men and women who are simply evil because of the bold faced lies they continue to speak publicly. We know we cannot trust them. We know others who we also cannot trust as they have been known as gossips. Still others have the tenor of being judgmental and we would not want them to know any of our faults, so we too build that façade in hopes no one can see into our heart. Yet God see us as not who we are, but who he has made us. He looks into the heart of man, knows our thoughts. But he does not count any sin against us as he has already made us holy and blameless in his sight. Yet man does not see us as God does, and we look at the words and actions of others as a reflection of their heart. We see each other for the self-centered or God –centered person we are. We see each other for the kind and forgiving or the record keeper of wrongs. We may try to cover up our real self, which the heart is, but ultimately as the water reflects our face just as it is, so our heart will reflect the real us. One of the greatest lines in the movie Avatar is, “I see you”. It is meant that when it is said that the person actually sees the real person inside the shell, they see the heart not the image containing it. This is the truth of this proverb. We should live so that others see us, the real us, not the container we live in. I see you, should mean I see your heart. Do we see people as God does? Do we see them as flawed people or as holy and blameless, the condition which God as made them? That puts a whole different spin on those words, “I see you”.