Louis looked at his own image in the mirror. It felt rather that his image was looking back at him, blaming him for what he had done to get it looking like this.
When he was young, he sometimes wondered what he would look like when he would get old. Now he knew.
To say that his health wasn’t good, was an understatement. He had just been released from hospital where he received a quadruple heart by-pass operation the week before.
A smile formed on his face thinking that his heart had just been upgraded from a slow and weak one to one people would call a 4 X 4.
People often regard themselves as exceptional, special, of “high degree”, thinking that illnesses and bad experiences would not find their address. They typically ignore the fact that Adam signed the Garden of Eden away with a single meal.
Knowing that many people are however, very healthy, the question came to Louis’ mind whether he was someone inferior of “low degree”. He realised that the answer was affirmative but only in comparing ourselves to others.
Psalm 62:9 amusingly states, “Men of low degree are a vapour, (well said, the men of high degree would say) men of high degree are a lie (Oops!)…. They are altogether lighter than vapour.”
Glory to God, Louis thought. He valued us to such a high degree, high enough to have His Son sent to die in our place! Now, we are His children, children of the Almighty God!
The ordeal Louis had experienced made him realise once again that without Jesus, we are less than a vapour.
The image being reflected in the mirror, is of an older somewhat battered body. The smile showed a mature and wiser soul. His spirit however, still young and vibrant, cannot help but to love God with all his body, soul and spirit, because the God of love chose to live in this upgraded 4 X 4 “heart” since birth.