Law of Reflection

Everyone of you who passes judgment, ...in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. (Rom. 2:1)

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." (Luke 6:37-38)

Because we all are like mirrors, this universal principle cannot be circumvented. I will receive in kind generally what I give in my spirit. The same truth applies not only negatively but positively as well. There is also the added element of the principle of multiplication, so that what I plant with my spirit will be increased by the time it returns to me. This principle of increase is because of the principle of growth. All animate beings grow, they do not remain static and inanimate. In fact, the very word is linked to the word animated which implies outflowing life.

The fact that we grow is made possible because our inner beings, both physical and otherwise, are multiplying in many various ways. Because of the introduction of sin we are also dying at the same time and our health is determined by which one is happening more than the other. But in God's way of life death is not a legitimate presence and will be banished eventually. But even now we are to enter into eternal life to as much extent as possible.

Because we are multiplying-type beings and that defines our very existence, the quality of our lives are largely determined by our continual choices as to what we will give out which in turn determines largely what will be reflected back to ourselves with interest. Even what we dwell on when we look within ourselves will begin to multiply so we have to be selective what we think about both in ourselves and in others. This is not the same as “righteousness by denial” where we try to pretend we have no faults or sins. It is eliminating the destructive presence of those sins by acknowledging them when convicted by God's Spirit and releasing the death-producing consequences of those sins to Jesus who already experienced every one of them on our behalf.

“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. 'With His stripes we are healed.'” {DA 25}

When I dwell on my faults or the faults of others, I become transformed into those faults even though I think I am opposing them. That is why legalism is so powerless to bring true life to our souls, because it focuses on trying to eliminate sin instead of focusing on thriving and receiving abundant life. That is why judging and condemning produce the very things within us that we condemn in others, because by beholding we become changed. Even if it is my self that I am judging and condemning the effect will be the same. “By your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

I want to change the way I think radically. I want to look for the things in others that I want to see produced in my own life and affirm those things in their life, even if they are people who are against me and seem to hate me. That will require a huge infusion of grace, but God seems to have an unlimited supply of that for anyone interested in using it. “The law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace.” (Romans 5:20 BBE)

The law can only focus on violations – negative things that cause pain and death. When we approach life through the lenses of rule-based relationships we only accentuate the results of wrongdoing and make it even worse. That is why, if we want to experience the life that comes only through the atmosphere created by grace, we must choose to look both at ourselves and others always through the eyes of heaven which is the lenses of grace. As we look with grace we receive grace. "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

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