What's in Your Backpack? -Mirror- Youth Lectures 2025

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Tim King talks about  What's In Your Backpack- Mirror

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (00:13):
Well, good afternoon.
We're here, the WestsideLectures, and I'm standing in
the pulpit of Mark Roberts.
This is amazing.
You got every compartmentneeded, man.
This is really something.
I am really thankful to be here.
Mark asked me last November if Iwould be willing to be a part of

(00:36):
this and to share a part of mystory, which I hope some of that
brings goodness to your life,and to just know that this is an
event that many anticipate, andhere we are.
And praise God for that.
I'm thankful you're here.
Before we get into any of this,I just want to say thank you.

(00:56):
To the leadership here atWestside, thank you for letting
me be a part of something thatreally matters.
And to all of you who sentmessages, all of those prayers,
those emails, and all the wordsof encouragement along the way,
it's been more than you know.
It's been so special.
Seriously, you guys aresomething, and I thank you for

(01:19):
that.
Now, I have to say, I love thetheme for this weekend.
The theme is, what is in yourbackpack?
And it's clever, it's memorable,but if you let it, that
question, what's in yourbackpack, actually digs a lot

(01:40):
deeper than it may seem atfirst.
Because this journey from earthto heaven, it's not just
something that you drift yourway through.
Whether you're 18 or you're 83,Your life is not standing still.
You're becoming someone.

(02:01):
And this road that we're on isfull of trouble.
Not just the kind that hits fromthe outside, but the kind that
creeps in underneath.
The stuff that nobody else cansee, but you feel it.
The stuff that stirs you upinside and quietly shapes the
kind of person that you'returning into right now.

(02:23):
Things like the temptation tocompromise when no one's
looking, or the pressure toblend in, to not be that kid who
takes God too seriously.
The constant overthinking, thenonstop comparing, that sneaky

(02:44):
feeling that somehow you're notenough or worse, that if people
saw the real you, they wouldn'tstick around.
Or how about the fear of missingout?
The fear of standing out?
Or maybe it's the guilt youdon't know what to do with.
The shame you're scared someonemight eventually see.

(03:07):
That exhausting cycle of tryingto look strong, stay chill, keep
up, and not let anything crackthrough the surface.
You know what I'm talking about.
That's what's really going onunderneath.
And if you're not equipped toface it, if you're not rooted

(03:27):
into something deeper, you'lldrift or you'll perform.
You might shut down.
Or worse, you'll forget who youactually are.
And here's the truth.
In the world you're growing upin, that kind of confusion about

(03:48):
what our identity is, iseverywhere.
You're being shaped constantly.
And when that pressure hits,you're going to need more than
just willpower, my friend.
You'll need clarity.
You'll need the ability toreally see yourself, to get

(04:09):
honest about what's going onunder the surface.
And that's why, for thisweekend, I brought us all a
message about a mirror.
Now, it may not seem like much.
I've thought a lot about this.
It could have been somethinglike a sword.
That's powerful.
And that's kind of just whatmight be expected from a sermon.

(04:30):
Or it might not be asadventurous as a compass,
talking about navigating throughlife.
But without a mirror, you'rewalking blind.
Without a mirror, you can movethrough life looking the part.
saying the right things andfooling just about anybody and

(04:53):
still not realize who you'reactually becoming.
Because it's one thing to lookspiritual, but it's an entirely
different thing to get themirror and look at it honestly.
As for me, that kind of honestytook a while to show up.
I spent my teenage years wearingthe name Christian.

(05:15):
Notice I got air quotes forthat.
Wearing the name Christianwithout actually following
Christ.
And the scariest part, I think Ihad everybody fooled.
I think I had everyone to thepoint of where I look the part
and talk the part and blend itin, but underneath all of that,

(05:37):
I wasn't being transformed.
I was just performing.
But more about all of thatlater.
I just want you to hear fromthis point that it's that sort
of life that a mirror is goingto expose.
And that's where real changebegins.
So since we're here, let's planto not just glance at the word

(05:59):
and move on like everything'sfine.
That can happen pretty easily.
Let's not pretend we're goodjust because we showed up.
Let's stop for a minute todayand slow down and take a real
look at where we are and whowe're becoming and what needs to
change.

(06:21):
Now I'll go ahead and let thefigurative cat out of the bag,
getting into James 1, that's theterritory that we're going to be
starting in.
A few of the verses, at leastthe ones that start the primary
points, will be on the screen tokick us off.
There will be a few verses kindof in between that I'll throw
out there, not really give youany time to get to it, but
repeat it maybe a time or two totake note of it.

(06:42):
and then we'll grip into it andmove a little bit further into
our lesson.
But James 1 puts it prettyplainly.
That is not the one who glancesinto the mirror that walks away
blessed.
It's the one who looks into themirror and then does something.

(07:05):
That's the one who's blessed.
That's the person who moves awaychanged.
So that's what I'm praying fortoday.
That you wouldn't just sitthrough this and hear some words
or feel something for just amoment because your toes got
stepped on.
But that you would let the wordwork on you.

(07:26):
And that you would do as it'sintended to do, to speak.
And that you would allow it toshape you in the way that you
think and in the way that youlive.
And it's been my hope since Istarted preparing for this event
that you'd see exactly what itis that the mirror shows.
And instead of turning away,that you'd have the courage to

(07:50):
lean in and face it.
So, my new friends, let us allcheck the mirror together.
And let's actually put ourselvesin a position to face whatever
it shows without the dodging,without the faking.
without hiding.
You ready?

(08:11):
Let's get started.
Let's first talk aboutreflection.
And what are you seeing?
James chapter 1, that's wherewe're going to begin here,
begins in verse 22, where hesays, but be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deceivingyourselves.

(08:35):
For if anyone is a hearer of theword and not a doer, He is like
a man who looks intently at hisnatural face in a mirror, for he
looks at himself and goes away,and at once forgets what he was
like.
The mirror won't bring change,but it will expose you.

(08:57):
Now, let's be real.
Most of us don't look into amirror because we expect major
change.
It's not something that we getin front of and expect our
height to change from one day tothe next.
Things like eye color, it's notgoing to happen.
Bicep size, trust me, it's notgoing to happen in one day.

(09:18):
It's going to take time forthings like that.
So when we look into a mirror,it's not going to bring change.
We check it because we want tomake sure that we look okay.
You check the fit.
You check your hair.
You angle your face just rightso that you don't maybe have to
face what you don't like.

(09:41):
Spiritually, we often do thesame, don't we?
We look for just enough truth tofeel affirmed, but not enough to
be changed.
We're good with seeing what weexpect to see, what's been there
all along, and then walking awaywithout letting anything change.
And that's what James isconfronting here.

(10:03):
He's confronting this to peoplewho listen, but don't live it,
who do nothing about it.
He's writing to people who werehearing the word, people who
showed up, listened, and maybeeven agreed with everything that
was being told to them, but theyweren't changed by it.

(10:23):
They weren't doing it.
You been there?
I know I'm not alone.
I hope we can see that clearlylooking like a Christian isn't
the same as being one.
There's a good chance I don'tstand alone in this, but that's
where I lived for a very longtime.

(10:45):
As a teenager before giving mylife to Christ at 19, I wore the
cross necklace.
I had a WWJD bracelet, two ofthem in fact.
One of them was maroon and whiteto match my high school colors.
Go dear.
And that was what stood out.
I said, yes, sir.

(11:06):
I said, no, ma'am.
I wasn't living wild.
In fact, if you saw me from theoutside, you'd probably say that
I was a good Christian boy.
Maybe not Christian, but a goodkid.
The kind of person who couldquote a verse in a setting maybe
where it needed to be.

(11:27):
I became reverent when we prayedby bowing my head.
I was even the kind of guy thatsome parents pointed at and
said, that's the kind of kid Iwant you around.
He's a good example.
That was me.
But what was I really hoping tosee whenever I looked into the
mirror?
Honestly, I was just lookinggood.

(11:49):
And I was good with just seeingsomeone who passed the test and
not get figured out for who Iwas whenever I was alone.
Someone who didn't look like aproblem person.
But one thing is for certain, Iwas not looking for truth.
I was good having others thinkthat I was fine as is.

(12:11):
Even whenever I made it toprofessional ball, that didn't
change.
And just to answer a fewquestions up front, I played for
Tampa Bay back when they werethe Devil Rays, kind of ages
when I played.
They became the Rays in 2008, sokind of do your math there real
quick.

(12:31):
But even when I made it there,that didn't change.
I wasn't fighting people.
I wasn't cussing guys out.
I wasn't the one that stood outas a problem at all.
I stayed under control.
And if you would have asked methen if I was right with God, I
would have said, yeah.
I mean, I believe in him.
I bowed my head before games.
I kissed my cross necklacebefore stepping onto the mound

(12:53):
because that was the very thingthat was going to bring me the
luck that I needed.
That's who I was.
Looking back now, I can tell youexactly what I was doing, and
maybe you can connect to this.
What I was doing was glancing inthe Bible during those
occasional church services,nodding at what I liked,

(13:15):
highlighting the familiar bumpersticker verses or the ones that
maybe I've heard before, justenough to give my Bible some
flair whenever maybe someoneelse saw me open it up.
But again and again, I waswalking away, unchanged.
I wasn't trying to know God.
I was learning how to avoidexposure.

(13:39):
Because let's be honest, we'vegot this ability, don't we?
It's innate.
It's who we are.
We're good at hiding.
Read Genesis 3 and watch howAdam and Eve did it.
To train ourselves maybe to bepolished, but not pure.
We're good at that too.
Or to be good enough forapplause, but not honest enough

(14:03):
for the change.
And just be sure you know this.
You won't fool God, but you canfool yourself.
And that's the deception thatJames is talking about.
He says when we only hear theword and don't do anything with
it, we deceive ourselves.

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That's heavy, isn't it?
To think of the possibility thathe doesn't say that Satan is the
one that deceives you.
He's not the one to blame forthis.
In fact, you and I are the veryones who have that ability to
deceive ourselves.
And those are the hardest liesto detect.
The ones we've been tellingourselves for years, I'm a good

(14:47):
person.
God knows my heart.
Or at least I'm not doing whatthey're doing.
Those might sound spiritual.
But none of them actuallyrequire obedience.
And none of them actually leadto change.
You'll never grow thinking likethat.

(15:10):
And you won't grow if you'reafraid of truth.
What are you hoping to see whenyou go to the mirror of God's
Word?
Why do you open it up?
To appease your consciencebecause of all those people who
keep saying that you need toread it?

(15:31):
And to stop hearing the voicesuntil you check that box that
day?
Is it to keep God from beingupset with you or maybe
believing you'll have bad luckif you keep avoiding it and you
know better?
Or are you approaching it withthe heart like King David?

(15:53):
who in Psalm 139 said this, andI love it because it sticks so
well.
He said, search me, O God, andknow my heart.
Man, I dare us all to have that.
Search me, O God, and know myheart.
Try me and know my thoughts.

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And see if there be any grievousway in me and lead me in the way
everlasting.
Like that is the way to hypeyourself into what the word is
all about.
To get yourself in front of thetrue reflection of what God
intends to do whenever the wordlands into your ears and you
begin to process it in a waythat it's going to start cutting
up your thoughts and dividing upthose intentions that you've

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got, those motivations.
Now let's take this a stepfurther.
What if someone with strongfaith and conviction in their
walk actually called you out?
What would you do?
Maybe it's a spouse or a bestfriend.

(16:57):
What if they pointed tosomething in your life and said,
that's not right, and you knowit?
How would you handle that one?
Because that's what happened tome back before I became a
Christian.
During the two years that I,Leah, and I were dating...
We started dating at 17.

(17:18):
I graduated at 17.
I was drafted to play baseballat 17.
That's kind of when life startedto just take off.
When we were dating, one of themost amazing qualities that
she's got turned into a fork inthe road for me.
She's honest.
It's a gift.
I used to say that she washonest to a fault because I

(17:40):
hated it.
It always cut me.
She's the kind of person that ifyou try to work a joke on
someone like April Fool's, shewould blow it because she's just
too honest to let the otherperson have their selves feel
silly.
She's that kind of girl.
But it's a good gift to have.
She's just wired to tell thetruth, especially whenever it
matters.
And one Sunday, that truth gotme hard.

(18:05):
We were sitting in a worshipservice together where she was
worshiping at the SouthsideChurch in Pasadena, and the
Lord's Supper tray came down therow as it did every week, which
I wasn't used to.
I was used to kind of thequarterly thing.
I think that's where we did inthe local place we were growing
up.
But the tray came to her, shepartook, and then she passed it

(18:29):
back down the other direction.
And I looked at her and asked,what about me?
She said, you're not aChristian.
I was hot.
I was angry.
I remember just being reallyupset about that.

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Those are the kinds of thingsthat get your pits sweating
immediately because you justknow you're not able to do
something about it in thatmoment and you got to hold it
in.
That's what she did.
by being honest you're not aChristian I was furious but that
was a defining moment soon aftershe then gave me the ultimatum
to change your life or we maynot end up staying together so

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this is just right before I hadbecome a Christian a couple
years into our dating in thatwhole season exposed something
in me that I hadn't seen beforeI thought that I was a Christian
think about this I thought beingat church and saying the right
things meant that I was rightwith God.

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But I wasn't seeking truth.
All I was doing was waltzingaround seeking affirmation, to
blend in, to be with the crowd.
I was looking for those aroundme that I could tag along with,
do what they were doing, allbecause they had the appearance
of being a Christian.
Especially if they did sinfulstuff in secret and could keep

(19:55):
it a secret.
That was my plan.
But this wasn't improving mylife, and Leah saw right through
it.
Because here's the thing, youcan't be changed by a mirror
that you're afraid to look into.
And you'll never grow if all youwant is to look the part.

(20:17):
You're going to have to face thetruth and change.
How about this for truth?
You can grow up in the churchand still miss heaven.
Some of you have been raisedaround spiritual things your
entire life.
You've been praised for beingrespectful.

(20:40):
You've heard enough lessons tofill journals.
But deep down, you know thatmaybe you haven't let the Word
cut you open, like what we seein the Hebrews letter, chapter
4, verse 12.
That's one to highlight rightthere, my friend.
Because Hebrews 4, verse 12 saysthat the Word of God is living
and active.
sharper than any two-edgedsword, piercing to the division

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of soul and of spirit, of jointsand of marrow, and discerning
the thoughts and intentions ofthe heart.
It's going to get you if you getyourself in front of it and get
honest with it.
And if that's you, don't tunethis part out.
That tension doesn't mean thatyour faith is fake if you feel

(21:26):
something like you're gettingstepped on right now.
It doesn't mean your faith isfake.
It means God is still pursuingyou.
It means His Spirit is stillreaching when you hear truth,
because that's who He is.
He is truth.
And what it should tell you isthat there's something in the
mirror that's waiting to befaced.

(21:50):
This is because the mirror ofGod's Word reveals what we'd
rather ignore.
That stuff that's not alwaysflattering.
Sometimes what you see is prideor maybe what you see is
insecurity or maybe it's justlust.
Maybe it's fear.
Sometimes it's guilt that you'veburied or lies you've believed

(22:13):
about yourself and keep gettingreminded of day after day after
day because you're tired ofhiding it.
But until you see it, you can'tdeal with it.
which means you won't becomelike Christ by accident.
That's why keeping a mirror inthe backpack matters.

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And this is the imagery thatJames brings into view because
no one becomes like Christ byaccident.
No one matures by proximity, byjust being here, close to people
who are doing things that areChristian things.
For example, being in church orthe Bible studies.

(22:59):
at camps, at youth lectureships,or just having a best friend
who's a Christian or parents whoare.
These things do notautomatically result in
spiritual maturity.
Spiritual growth requireshonesty.
We're going to talk more aboutthat in just a little bit.
And honesty starts when we stopmanaging how people see us and

(23:24):
we begin surrendering to whatGod shows us.
Christianity is not aboutlooking good in front of others.
It's not about showing up at allof the right places at all of
the right times.
It's about letting God show youwhat's going on on the inside
and then responding to that.

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And the mirror will not lie.
But it also won't force you tochange.
That's on us.
Because you can't become aChristian by accident.
As we get into this next bigportion, just give yourself a
moment to think.

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Are you noticing something goingon right now within you?
Give me a little bit of a shiftin how you're thinking through
who you are today and whatyou've been.
Are you noticing a differentreflection right now?
Are these words bringing somethings to light?
Because now we're going to betalking about resemblance.

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What you look like, what you'resimilar to, what you are like.
So resemblance, the questionwhose image are you being shaped
into?
Romans chapter 8 verse 29 is thepart we're going to focus on for
just a moment here to get usstarted into this point.

(24:51):
Romans 8 29 says, For those whomhe foreknew...
He also predestined to beconformed to the image of his
Son.
In other words, God had a planfrom the beginning.
And here it is.
That for everyone who followshim to be changed to live and

(25:16):
act like Jesus.
That's the plan.
Whenever you come to him and hebegins to interact with you and
you have all of these thingsbegin to take place in your life
because his word starts to showyou things that you've never
heard before, that's the planthat he's had.
To then have those things formyou into something.
And that's what we're going tobe talking about now for the

(25:37):
next few minutes because thisverse tells you exactly what
God's plan is.
Not just for your futuredestination, but for your
present formation.
He's not trying to make you aslightly better version of
yourself.
He's not working to clean upyour bad habits so that you can
live a good, successful life.

(26:00):
He's conforming you, reshapingyou like a potter does to clay.
And he's doing all of this intothe image of his son, Jesus.
So here's kind of the way tothink about it.
Every time that you begin tolearn or hear about Jesus, be
all ears because that's exactlywhat it is that you're intended
to hear so that you could beginmaking more of that process

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happen.
That's the goal.
That's the mirror God holds upto our life.
So we don't just reflect, weresemble.
Again, we see what we're similarto and that's kind of just the
way that things begin to shapethemselves.

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Mirrors don't just show us whatwe look like.
Over time, we start to resemblewhat we admire.
That's the difference betweenseeing and becoming.
Now you may not even realizethat it's happening, but the
people that you watch, thethings that you follow, all of

(27:08):
these are imitating.
You're being shaped by them.
The priorities that peoplecarry, the type of words that
they use, their language, theirvalues.
This verse comes to mind here.
This is 2 Corinthians 3, verse18, where it says that we all,

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with unveiled faces, beholdingthe glory of the Lord...
are being transformed into thesame image.
That means this, what you admirewill shape who you become.
Over time, you start to looklike what you're staring at,

(27:54):
what you're filling your lifewith.
You constantly think about whatyou let yourself see and begin
to hear regularly.
That's how this works.
That's what we're seeing here inthe scriptures.
So here's the question now thatwe've got to ask ourselves.

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What's forming your identity?
Whose reflection are you chasingin this life?
I should say, in this season ofyour life?
Is it a version of you thatyou've propped up in your own
mind?
Who you'll become if you justkeep feeding that one desire?

(28:38):
Or is it the image of someoneelse?
Someone that you admire?
Or maybe someone that you envy?
Maybe what you scroll past mostevery day and think, if I could
just be more like that.
Because here's the thing aboutmirrors.

(29:00):
Sometimes the one you're staringinto is not glass.
We'll talk more about that injust a bit.
Sometimes the one you're staringinto is not glass.
Maybe it's another person'slife.
You see?
And before long, what you fixateon becomes what you follow.

(29:22):
That was me.
My identity was baseball.
Hence the baseball player in themirror there.
And I was borrowing areflection.
So let me take you back for justa moment.
Once baseball became myprofession, that life became my

(29:45):
idol.
And I wanted to be seen like theother guys who were already
there, guys who were in thelocker room well before I was.
Guys, man, they were married,had babies.
That's not what I was lookingforward to the most, but just
the fact they were older than meand there was this presentation
of that's then what I willbecome in time.
And so there's an impressionthat immediately takes place.

(30:08):
And here's the thing, I watchthem.
Not because of their character,but it's because of their
status.
That's the one thing about proball.
Everyone's an all-star.
And everyone's seeking to get tothat next level.

(30:29):
The way that these people weretreated, the money that they
had, the attention that theygot, the fame that they were
receiving.
Whenever you leave the lockerroom, the types of things that
you get opportunities for.
I admire the way that theywalked and talked and carried
themselves.
They were professional baseballplayers.
And here I was, 17 years old,stepping right into it.

(30:53):
So I started mimicking it.
Not because someone told me to,but because it looked like
success, and I admired theirsuccess.
I saw myself getting what theygot, so I sought it.
And what I didn't see at thetime was how dangerous that was.

(31:14):
Now, I want to staple somethinginto this, a scripture right
quick for us to see aconnection, because Galatians
4.19, where Paul says this,Galatians 4.19, he says to
these...
young in the faith Christians,he says, I am again in the
anguish of childbirth untilChrist is formed in you.

(31:35):
So there was this pain that hehad within him for these people
that he was overseeing in a waythat their growth was important
to him.
He's teaching them in manypowerful ways.
But what Paul is saying to thesepeople is I'm hurting for you
like a mother in labor because Iwant to see Jesus truly formed
in your life.
Not just on the outside, butdeep in your heart and in your

(31:57):
identity.
Everything that you do, that'swhat I'm hoping is happening
here.
And that's what he's saying inthat way that he expressed
himself.
Now at that time in my life, Ihad no interest of Christ being
formed in me.
For the first time in my life, Iwas away from home, from mom and
dad.

(32:17):
Any authority that I had over meall of those years growing up,
gone.
Gone.
Aside from just maybe a weekendgetaway that we'd play with the
summer ball team, this was thebiggest thing that I've ever
done in getting away from home.
I get sent off to the East Coastin Princeton, West Virginia.
Never heard of it likely becausevery few people live there.
It's a wonderful place.

(32:39):
But that's minor league ball foryou at the lowest level.
You're pretty much by yourselfwith the exception of the men
who are with you in your lockerroom.
So instead of Christ beingformed in me, A brand was.
A persona was gettingestablished.

(33:01):
And it was happening reallyfast.
I didn't think to ask God whathe wanted for my life at that
time.
I was chasing the reflection ofwhat others already had.
And that's how this happens.
But then I finally came face toface with the words of Christ
and everything changed.

(33:24):
Like you heard earlier, I becamea Christian at 19.
And when I became a Christian,it wasn't just this churchy
change that happened to me wherethings begin to look a little
bit different.
It wasn't some spiritual-levelguy, that surface-level
spiritual change that I washaving.
I was convicted by the Lord.

(33:44):
I saw the truth for the firsttime in my life.
And I understood the cost and Isurrendered all as we sing.
And it took no time for me tosee how the world I was in
didn't fit me anymore.
Because here's what happenswhenever Christ starts shaping
your heart.

(34:05):
Is that the world that once feltlike home starts to feel really
foreign.
It feels out of place andstrange and uncomfortable.
Now, as you might imagine, as aprofessional pitcher, another
detail, left-handed pitcher, asa professional pitcher, you've

(34:26):
got to live with grit.
It's to your advantage to hateyour opponents, to give them
chim music and brush them offyour plate.
That's baseball lingo as if tosay, you're in the way, I'm
going to get you out.
Even though you think you'regoing to dominate this at bat,
I'm going to get you because Idon't like you.
In fact, you want my job, I'mgoing to take your job.

(34:48):
And that's the way you approachit.
And whenever there's a benchclearing fight, just so you
know, if you don't get off thebench, get on the field, support
your teammates, get their back,you're going to get fined.
Just the way it is.
And if you go on the field andfight, you're going to get
fined.
It's just kind of a way, it'sweird.
We'll talk about that after.
But that's just the tenacitythat I had in my life.

(35:10):
It didn't matter if you weresomebody on my team, I was going
to back you up.
That's just who I was.
That's who I had been for quitesome time.
But also, you gotta give yourloyalty to the game, to the
team, to the grind.
Being one of the first to showup, last to leave.
I mean, you think about that.
In order to be at that kind oflevel, you have to maintain that

(35:31):
kind of level to be the personthat makes it to the next level.
But that wasn't me anymore.
Two years in, there was thisshift, dramatically.
I didn't want to pitch with thatanger.
That fire was dying out.
The pride of beating you andmaking you look horrible, if I

(35:53):
knocked you down and just madeyou feel even worse because you
were down, that wasn't in meanymore.
And I certainly didn't want tocompromise the progress I was
making as a new Christian justto get promoted from single A to
long A, which is kind of the waythat things ended up getting to.
I was choosing to avoid theextra workouts just to keep my

(36:15):
Bible reading alive and to studythe stuff that my mentor was
giving me.
I was eating it up.
Loved it.
But all in all, as you'rehearing in all of this, I gave
my allegiance to Jesus Christ.
And that meant letting go ofevery identity that tried to own
me.

(36:36):
So whenever I was released at 21years of age, five years into
playing, I had no injury, nevergot injured.
I was in peak form when it cameto the physicality of who I was.
My dad and even a lot of otherscouldn't understand it.
Why aren't you trying out forother teams?
You still have so much morethings that you can do here with

(36:58):
your career.
Why are you walking away?
You want to do what?
You want to preach?
You could do that later.
And no one seemed to understand.
Few did.
And they were the people thatwere in the pews.

(37:19):
Little did anyone know that Godwas changing me.
And he was doing it in a hurry.
Some may think I'm crazy forthis, but my final spring
training, a prayer that I madein tears often, God actually
answered really fast.
I begged God in my hotel roomtime and time again.

(37:40):
I was reading through a lot ofthe Psalms and just hoping to
have this expression of heartthat he would hear, but praying
for him to give me a path to getback home, to be with the church
family, and learn to be apreacher.
I know, some may think that'swild, knowing what kind of
ticket I had right there in mypocket.

(38:05):
But you see, the voice and thedreams of others didn't shape me
like it did before.
I wasn't admiring the dream thatthey had for me or even trying
to live up to the potential thatthey thought I had if I just
made a few changes about who Iwas becoming.
I wasn't trying to be theirversion of me.

(38:27):
And maybe that's exactly wheresome of you are.
You're being shaped but not byChrist.
Maybe it's the voice of a parentor of a coach or of a friend
group or of the version ofsuccess that someone else has

(38:51):
dreamed up for you and you'rejust tagging along with them.
I know what that pressure feelslike to become what others want.
Instead of who God is callingyou to be.
But I hope you're beginning tohear that that's where the
turning point is.

(39:13):
When the mirror stops beingabout what they expect to see
and it starts being about whoGod is forming you to become.
That's why Romans chapter 12verse 2 is so crucial here.
Romans 12.2, do not be conformedto this world, but be

(39:35):
transformed by the renewal ofyour mind.
In other words, don't let theworld shape your identity from
the outside in.
You see that?
Let God shape you from theinside out.
Don't just blend or imitate.

(39:56):
Be completely remade.
Let him renew how you think,because once that changes,
everything else is going to befollowing.
Let his words be the voice thatyou're listening to, not someone
else's who thinks they knowbetter.
The world wants to fit you intoits mold, my friend, but God

(40:17):
wants you to be remade in hisimage.
And here's a warning.
Not all mirrors have glass.
We heard that just a moment ago,and here's what this means.
Some of you already are alreadyfollowing a reflection.
And you may not even begin torealize what is happening until

(40:40):
today.
That'd be awesome if that's whatyou see now is happening in your
life.
Because sometimes it's a persondoing that.
Sometimes it's a trend,sometimes maybe like a boyfriend
or a teammate or a friend groupor some YouTuber that's an
influencer, or even just yourown parents like I had with my

(41:02):
dad.
So let me ask you, who isshaping your standard for life?
For what matters in this seasonof your life?
For what matters in the futurefor your life?
Who's shaping that?
What voice speaks loudest.

(41:24):
Because whoever that is, that'swho you're slowly becoming.
And the danger in that, itdoesn't always look wrong.
That's why 1 Corinthians chapter15 verse 33, I would imagine
that Phil might have some ofthis to speak about in a little

(41:46):
bit, so we'll be brief.
But it's that familiar punchyverse, another good highlighting
one, do not be deceived.
Do not be deceived.
Bad company corrupts goodmorals.
The deception, it's subtle.

(42:08):
It creeps in.
It's not a full-blown rebellionthat you begin to have at home
and people are concerned aboutwhat you're doing.
It's quieter than that.
It's not someone waving a redflag and saying, run the other
direction.
No, no, no, no.
It's a phrase here or a moodshift there or some sarcasm.

(42:30):
Maybe a softened conviction or anew tone or some kind of new
outfit that begins to just goacross the line and where maybe
you have ever thought to gobefore.
A little compromise, you tellyourself that, eh, it's not that
deep.
And before you even realize it,you're fading, slowly moving

(42:53):
away from resembling Jesus andslowly starting to resemble
someone else.
You see, not all mirrorsreflect.
But here's the truth nobodylikes to talk about.
The world's version of you isn'tmade to last.
The world will shape you justenough to get what it wants from

(43:16):
you.
but not enough to save yoursoul.
It'll train you to perform.
It'll teach you to blend in.
It'll teach you to get noticed,to win praise.
And for a while, it's going towork.
It's going to almost seem likethis is God blessing me in my
life, and this is certainly thebest thing for me.

(43:37):
And you might even love what youbegin to see in the mirror.
But underneath all of that hype,there's a hollow version of you
that's not built to endure.
The world will sell you aversion of yourself that looks
strong on the outside but isempty on the inside, the kind

(43:57):
that grabs for attention, but ithas absolutely no eternal value.
And you build your life on that.
Colossians 3, verse 10 says,Paul says here to put on the new
self, which is being renewed inknowledge after the image of its

(44:22):
creator.
What God is telling us is thatwhen you put on the new you, the
version that is called to followJesus, you start becoming
renewed as you learn more andmore about who God is.
When that knowledge begins toget into your life and you see
things differently, The more youcome to know him, the more you

(44:45):
begin to get shaped to live likehim.
And that's the point.
God's not interested in tweakingthe old you.
He's not wanting to bargain withyou keeping some things and he
just says, let's keep this andthen let's try to change this.

(45:07):
He's not out here trying to makeyour broken pattern slightly
more manageable, my friend.
He's not trying to patch you up.
What you see is that he'sremaking you.
That's where your identity comesfrom.
This is where peace starts.

(45:27):
This is where purpose takes off.
That's when your life stopsfeeling like an act and starts
feeling like it's actuallyanchored.
Unlike the world's version ofyou that isn't made to last, But
here's what's so easy to forget,especially whenever the world
still calls your name and justgives you the underbelly to say,

(45:50):
keep going in that, you're doinggood, is that you don't reflect
the world you left.
You resemble the one who savedyou.
If you are in Christ, your lifehas been purchased.
It's been bought.
You don't belong to the lockerroom.

(46:11):
You don't belong to the currentculture.
You don't belong to the peoplewho say you should look like
this and think like this or evenlive like this.
You belong to God.
You were bought with blood andnow you're being shaped into the
reflection of his son.

(46:32):
So I want to press you herebefore we get into the last big
idea.
Because some of you are at theedge of a decision.
You're about to step into a newseason of your life, whether
you're about to leave home oryou're going to be joining some
dorm mates for the first timeand having all of this time by
yourselves without theauthority, starting school,

(46:53):
changing friend groups, tryingto figure out who you really are
because so much is happening sofast.
And here's the thing.
If you don't know whose you are,Christian, you'll eventually
become who the world tells youto be.
because that's how it works.

(47:15):
What starts as admiration slowlyturns into imitation.
And imitation, over time, startsto shape your direction.
It shapes your choices, itshapes your habits, your sense
of worth, until one day you wakeup and you're not sure who
you're even becoming anymore.

(47:38):
You're lost.
So before we move on, just sitwith this for a second.
Right now in this season of yourlife with the people who
surround you, who influence you,who speak into you, who shape
your sense of normal, whoseimage are you being shaped into?

(48:06):
So let's go to the third bigidea, finally.
Renewal.
What are you becoming?
James chapter one, verse 25.
But the one who looks into theperfect law, the law of liberty,
and perseveres, being no hearerwho forgets, but a doer who

(48:29):
acts, he will be blessed in hisdoing.
So here's where all of thiscomes together.
Everything that we've lookedinto up to this point, now gets
tied into this one powerfulverse.
Because James isn't justpointing out a problem here.
James is giving us the pathforward.
And here's the truth that weneed to hold on to from all of

(48:51):
this.
Is that the mirror of God's wordisn't just for seeing.
It's for changing.
Notice James doesn't stop at theproblem.
He gives us the solution.
If you got your Bibles, notice acouple of different words here.
He gets to the point of don'tjust glance at it.

(49:13):
Don't just hear it and thenacknowledge it and feel good
about what you're hearing.
Notice first he says topersevere, meaning stick with
it.
Don't just skim a verse and feelsomething and then just move on.
Stay in it.
Keep coming back to that.
Let the word keep pressing onthe parts of you that you tend

(49:36):
to want to pull away from.
Persevere.
And then he says after that toact.
In other words, don't just nodat what you read.
Do something with it.
Let it mess with how you think.
Let it shift the way you talk.

(49:56):
Let it completely interrupt theway that you're living your life
today.
That's what he's calling forhere.
Because the word, it was neverjust to fill your head.
It's meant to change you, to dosomething in you, to make you
new from the inside out.

(50:16):
That's its plan.
You will not change until youstop glancing and start obeying.
That's the difference betweensomeone who glances and forgets
versus someone who looks, obeys,and then becomes.
And James says that the one whodoes this stuff that they're
hearing, well, that's theperson, that's the one that's

(50:38):
going to be blessed.
After Leah gave me thatultimatum of, hey, change your
life or I'm dumping you,basically, she eventually
encouraged me to study with herpreacher.
And you may have heard of theguy.
He's kind of big where I'm from.

(50:59):
Not in stature, but his name.
Bubba Garner?
No?
I knew I should have said DeeBowman.
Bubba's the one who taught me.
And finally, I had someonechallenge me.
For the first time, someoneprivately opened the Word and
asked me how I actually lined upwith what I was reading.

(51:22):
All those years, no one had donethat.
And in that study, the momentcame whenever I realized that I
had spent all of this timeglancing in the mirror, hoping
just to see enough to feelspiritual, but not enough to
have to change anything.
But then the words started tocut through.

(51:42):
I remember reading what Paulwrote.
This is from Ephesians 4.
This is verse 22, and it goesthrough verse 24.
Ephesians 4.
Verse 22, he says to put offyour old self.
I mean, that alone we couldpause and think through, and

(52:02):
that in itself is challenging.
But now think about the setting,being into this position, having
someone read through this withme, and hearing these words, put
off your old self, which belongsto your former manner of life
and is corrupt through deceitfuldesires.

(52:25):
And put on the new self.
Created after the likeness ofGod and true righteousness and
holiness.
Now you begin to see the seesawof those two different types of
people that I was living like inmy life.
And boy, deception got megripped.
It had me in a chokehold.

(52:46):
So what this verse was about forme in that moment wasn't about
becoming a better version ofmyself.
It was about becoming new.
A completely different personwho's formed by truth, no longer
by performance.
You see, for the first timeever, I saw clearly.

(53:06):
This wasn't about learning howto apply more makeup into the
mirror to be a better hypocrite.
It was about laying myself down.
And that's what I did.
That same night.
I was baptized into Christ.

(53:26):
I didn't wait for another signor make a checklist of
improvements first.
I obeyed.
And that's when things actuallystarted to change.
Not because I figured out how toget more deceptive, but because
I finally got honest.
And I did what God was actuallycalling me to do.

(53:50):
Now, many don't talk much aboutthis next part.
At least not enough.
Not in our friend groups,sometimes not even from the
pulpit, especially not withourselves when we look into the
word.
But it matters a lot more thanwe think.
Is that looking good is not thesame as being honest.

(54:12):
Are you with me?
Because the world celebrates alot of good people.
I mean, we think through this,we've got good teammates and
good classmates.
good neighbors, good childhoodfriends, good students, good
citizens.

(54:34):
And let's face it, guys,churches are full of good people
too.
People who are polite, peoplewho serve, people who show up to
events on Saturday afternoons.
People who don't cuss, don'tparty.
People who know where to findthe book of Philippians like

(54:55):
that.
But being seen as good is notthe same as being honest before
our God who sees all.
Because good people can hide.
Right, Caleb?
Good people can fake it and cannod through sermons and keep
journals and highlight theirBibles while quietly living in

(55:18):
dishonesty before the God whosees everything.
My friends, that's the danger ofa polished image.
You can convince everyone elseand lose yourself in the
process.
And the truth is, there's a lotof good people getting talked
about at their funerals everyday as they lay their lifeless

(55:39):
in their casket.
They're getting praised andadmired and respected, but only
God knows who was ever trulyhonest before him.
That's why the mirror matters.
It doesn't just show whereyou're making stuff up, it
reveals your heart.

(55:59):
And that's what Jesus was afterin Luke chapter 8.
I love this version of theparable of the soils, as opposed
to Matthew.
I like them both, but this onesays something specifically that
I want you to note, and thenwe're pretty much going to be
done here.
But in this particular verse,Luke 8, 15, this is at the end

(56:20):
of the parable of the soils whenhe's explaining it all.
And he's talking about when theseed that landed on the good
soil, he says this in Luke 8,15, ask for that seed or ask for
that in the good soil.
He says, they are those who,hearing the word, hold it fast

(56:43):
in an honest and And good heart.
And they bear much fruit withpatience.
Now, I hope you caught thatbecause I emphasized it.
Honest.
Jesus didn't say a good heart.
He says an honest and good.

(57:04):
Again, there's a lot of goodpeople.
So many we love.
But the truth is you can lookrespectful and still resist
repentance.
You can act spiritual, say theright things.
Again, carry a Bible with yourname engraved on the cover in
gold.
That's what I had.
Had 14 years old, given to itfor my birthday.

(57:26):
And able to sit there in a pewevery single week and still
refuse to surrender all.
See, all those are good things.
But let's just face the mirrorof Jesus' words for just a
moment in this parable and askthe question, am I being
unworthy?
Honest.

(57:49):
Like completely honest.
Not mostly.
Let's take it a step furtherhere.
Are you honest in your prayersor do you just say what sounds
spiritual?
Are you honest about yourstruggles or do you downplay
what's really going on?

(58:11):
Are you honest when God convictsyou Or do you find ways to brush
it off and stay comfortable andcomplacent?
Are you honest in how you treatpeople when no one's looking?
Do you bless them with your lipsbut curse them in your heart?
Let's be honest.

(58:34):
Are you honest with your doubts?
Or do you pretend they're notthere?
Are you honest about yourhabits?
your private life, your motives?
Are you honest enough to admitthat maybe, just maybe, you're

(58:56):
more interested in looking goodthan being changed?
Because this is all the stuffthe mirror reveals.
Not just your Sunday version,not just your Instagram version,
but the real version, the onethat God already sees.
And he's not asking forperfection.

(59:17):
He's just asking for honesty.
Because that's the seed thatbecomes fruitful.
Which I think we see is not thesame as looking good.
Now one last thing before weclose.
Just know the mirror won'tchange you.

(59:38):
But it'll show you where tostart.
This journey from earth toheaven...
doesn't just happen because youlook the part.
It doesn't come from knowing theright answers or having some
solid church routine.
It happens when your lifeactually lines up with what God
says.
And that starts when you stopmanaging your image and start

(01:00:03):
getting honest about where youreally are today.
Because here's the thing aboutmirrors, they don't fix you.
They don't change your heart.
They don't move your feet.
But they do always tell thetruth.
They show you what's off.

(01:00:23):
They show you what's beenhidden.
They show you what needs to bedealt with.
And they do not lie.
But they also won't force you todo anything.
That part's on you.
So maybe this is where you areright now.
Maybe all your time around God'sword has mostly been about
keeping up the look, showing up,staying out of trouble, checking

(01:00:47):
the boxes so that no one asksthe questions that are tough to
answer.
Maybe you've been using themirror to adjust the angle so
that you don't have to face theissue.
You're making sure people seeyour best side while quietly
ignoring what's really going onunderneath.

(01:01:10):
Let me just ask you as straightas I can.
When you leave here, when youzip up the bag and head back to
real life, what are you going todo with the mirror when you look
into it?
Will you keep using it to facethe truth?

(01:01:33):
Or will it get stuffed at thebottom of the backpack buried
underneath everything else whileyou move on unchanged?
Because this journey from earthto heaven, it's not one through
image management or spiritualperformance.
It's only possible throughendurance.

(01:01:56):
And the only way to endure is tofix your eyes on the one who's
already run the race and who didit perfectly, who finished it.
And that's why I want to sharethis last idea with you from
Hebrews 12, verse 1.
Let us lay aside every weight.
I almost chose weight to putinto the backpack.
We don't want to be carryingthat too long.

(01:02:17):
We need to strip that fromourselves.
But he says, lay aside everyweight and sin which clings so
closely and let us run withendurance the race set before us
looking to Jesus, the founderand perfecter of our faith.

(01:02:37):
That's the challenge.
Not to run while dragging aroundthe version of you that's
weighed down with secret habitsand unspoken guilt or the
pressure to keep up a polishedreputation.
That's not what Jesus is askingfor.
He's calling you and I to lay itall down and to run with

(01:03:00):
honesty.
Maybe it's time to stop tryingto look like a Christian and
start becoming one.
So before you go back to school,back to your team, back to your
circle, open the backpack, checkthe mirror, and ask yourself, am

(01:03:24):
I ready for heaven?

SPEAKER_00 (01:03:32):
Thanks for listening to the West Side Church of
Christ podcast.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
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