I want to talk to you about this subject: the man in the mirror. The man in the mirror is a reflection of the word of God. Now, I’ve noticed that in these days, since everyone is watching the internet and many are hypersensitive about everything, sometimes you can’t make allusions to things without someone responding with criticism. But I’m willing to take that risk, no matter what any critic may say. I remember growing up watching Michael Jackson as a kid, and I recall him having all kinds of songs and music that reverberated around the world. One of his most beloved songs, which still rings true today and actually has validity even in 2020, is a song called “The Man in the Mirror.” Back in those days—some of you young people may not know this—we used to watch music videos. During my adolescence, there was even a show called 106 & Park, and it aired on BET. We watched music videos; every song had a video, and if a song didn’t have a video, it wasn’t hot. Today, you stream music, and a lot of songs don’t have videos, but back then, they had to. We would always seek out the video, and Michael Jackson made a video for the song called “The Man in the Mirror.” Now, Michael Jackson is an entertainer, so at that time, we wanted to see him, whether it was for “Thriller” or “Bad” or any of his other works—we wanted to see him. However, it’s amazing that this song, one of his biggest hits, has an official video on YouTube that has hundreds of millions of views, and Michael Jackson doesn’t even appear in it. That’s remarkable because we associate him with his dance and entertainment quality, yet he’s not in this video. The video for “The Man in the Mirror” is a montage of current events and famous people. You see flashes of the Ku Klux Klan and Martin Luther King during the march on Washington, along with all these events that we thought would have been resolved by now. Yet, in this video that came out decades ago, we still see flashes of the same kind. Don’t forget, I said "flashes of the same kind." Repeat after me at home: "the same kind." I want you to get that in your spirit: flashes of the same kind. Now, I know the song by heart because I’ve sung it so many times. My favorite section of the song is when the chorus says, “I’m staring at the man in the mirror,” and then it continues with, “I’m asking him to change his ways.” It states that “no message could have been any clearer.” Here’s the caveat: if you want to make a change, you have to look at yourself; you have to confront your reflection. Only by staring at yourself can you influence anyone else to make a change. I want you to grasp this in your spirit: the only person you can challenge is the man in the mirror. You may hope your spouse changes, but you can’t control that. You may want your child to change, but you can’t control that. You may desire your boss to change, but you can’t control that. The only person you can change is yourself. If you want to make the world a better place, you have to look in the mirror and make a change. The Bible also mentions mirrors. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it states, “When I was a child, I thought as a child; I understood as a child; I reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” At the end of the chapter, it says, “Now we see through a glass, darkly.” There was a reflective mechanism known as a mirror; we all have them in our homes. We have them in our cars—rearview mirrors and side mirrors. People who use makeup carry pocket mirrors. There are all kinds of mirrors because everywhere you go, you’re looking at your reflection. A mirror gives a direct representation of what’s in front of it. You may look in the mirror and not like what you see, but you can’t blame the mirror because it’s merely a direct derivative of what you present. Are you with me so far? That’s exactly what a mirror does; it gives us an accurate reflection of what is presented before it. You may not think that the song I just quoted fits with the text I just read until you give close scrutiny to the original language of this. Watch this: Jesus said to his disciples during their last night together in the upper room, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter.” What Jesus is doing here is going into extreme detail. Anytime you hear Jesus repeat something, He’s trying to emphasize it. When you read John 14, John 15, and John 16, four times in three verses, Jesus refers to the fact that God is going to send us another comforter.
