As Queen Elizabeth I grew old, her wrinkles were deep and many. It is reported that an unfortunate Master of the Mint incurred disgrace by casting a too-faithful likeness of her on the shilling. The die was broken, and only one mutilated specimen is now in existence.
Her maids of honor took the hint and were thenceforward careful that no fragment of looking glass should come into Her Majesty's hands. In fact, it is said that the Queen "had not the heart to look herself in the face for the last twenty years of her life!"
As a mirror exposes all the wrinkles and dirt that may be on a face, so does the Word of God expose the heart. Reading the Bible shows us our sins. If we refuse to repent and change, we soon get tired of seeing our "dirty faces" in God's Mirror—so we stop looking into the mirror.
How foolish! It is better to see the dirt, confess it and be cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Say with David, the Psalm writer: "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." Psa. 51:22Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:2).