Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Colossians 1:10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

At some point in our walk of faith we will put aside the feelings of guilt over past sins and find peace in the salvation that has been so graciously gifted to us in Christ Jesus.

There is a transition point where faith stops being all about us and we discover we can be useful to God through service in His plans for others.

Not everyone feels “the calling”. Some do because they have accepted that the gifts granted are not about serving themselves but serving God. None of us desire to be called idle so we allow others to tell us how we can be of use. What happens to individuals who see no fruit being born in those services?

Psalm 128:2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

This places us into that category of those who grumble about the manna from heaven because we are not satisfied with what God has graciously granted.

Here is why. What you are doing is not increasing your knowledge of God.

Philippians 1:22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.

They are still making this all about themselves.

Galatians 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

What do you see when you look in the mirror? A mirror is a reflection of reality but is the image in the mirror how we see ourselves?

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

What the mirror won’t reflect is what you were before you came to Christ. It cannot reflect your past. If we have been around long enough to have photographs of what we looked like before we came to Christ we can see physical changes, but not the changes that God sees.

What is it you want to see in the mirror?

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Some want to see Jesus in the mirror because we are hoping to be more Christlike.

Ephesians 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We will never see ourselves like God sees us until we see Him face to face.

I can change my image but not my character. That is God’s purview.