LET'S GO THERE | WEEK 2
“Broken Mirrors”
Pastor Rory Chance
Broken Mirrors
“If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” —Luke 4:3
Most of us have a favorite mirror. You look great in one, then walk past another and have to double back. Not all mirrors show you the same thing. A rest-stop mirror, really just polished metal, gives you a warped, cloudy image. That isn’t a reflection on you; it’s a reflection of the mirror. Then there are fitting-room mirrors, tilted just enough to make you look taller and thinner. There’s even a “skinny mirror” sold to stores to make shoppers look ten pounds lighter so they’ll buy more.
Mirrors don’t always reflect reality. Sometimes what we see says more about the mirror than about us. The clarity of your reflection depends on the quality of your mirror.
We are living in a time of broken mirrors. What we believe most deeply about ourselves is being shaped by algorithms and influencers, filters and follower counts, hashtags and hot takes, political tribes and highlight reels. We have more information than ever and less clarity. People are more confused about what defines them than at any point in history, whether it’s questions about gender and sexuality, the “manosphere” telling young men their worth comes from money, muscle and women, or social media setting standards that even the people in the photos can’t meet. Warped mirrors lead us one of two ways: to pride or to shame.
As followers of Jesus, our goal isn’t to win arguments but to heal hurting people. Scripture is clear that God invented gender (Genesis 1:27), that He knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13–14), and that your body belongs to Him (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Only the One who made you can tell you what He made. And God loves people who are struggling. So should His church. This isn’t a culture war; it’s a spiritual war.
In Luke 3, the Father declares over Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I love.” One chapter later, Satan begins every temptation with the same words: “If you are the Son of God…” Every temptation was aimed at Jesus’ identity. Because if the enemy can influence your identity, he can change your outcome. In Luke 4, Jesus shows us three things that don’t define us.
Don’t Let Your Desires Define You
After forty days without food, Jesus was hungry. That hunger was natural and it was temporary, produced by where He was. Circumstances often create desires, and desires often come from deficiencies. Culture says what you desire defines you. Satan told Jesus that satisfying His desire would prove who He was.
Jesus answered, “Man shall not live on bread alone.” When your desires don’t line up with God’s design, bring your desires to your Designer. Sometimes how we feel is more a reflection of where we are than who we are.
Don’t Let Your Letdowns Label You
Next, Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world. But those kingdoms were already promised to Him. Psalm 2:7, quoted at His baptism, is followed by Psalm 2:8: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage.” Satan offered nothing new, just a shortcut: early, without the cross, from a different father.
The enemy loves to point at the gap between where we are and where God says we’re going: If you were really God’s child, you’d already have peace. You’d already be free. But “not yet” doesn’t mean “not ever.” Jesus refused the shortcut: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
Don’t Give Your Wounds the Last Word
Finally, Satan told Jesus to throw Himself off the temple and make God prove Himself. Jesus answered with Deuteronomy 6:16, a reference to Massah, where Israel asked, “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). They had seen the plagues and the Red Sea, but 400 years of slavery still told them they were disposable.
It’s easy to let past pain tell us who we are and what life will be. Forty days in, tired and hungry, Jesus refused to let the wilderness write His story.
What Does Define You
Jesus walked out of the wilderness and into the synagogue, opened the scroll, and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me…” (Luke 4:18). On the other side of identity struggles is a clear understanding of who you are and why you’re here.
In Max Lucado’s "You Are Special", Punchinello spends his life collecting gray dots every time he stumbles, until he starts believing them. Then he meets Eli, the woodcarver who made him, who tells him he’s special simply because he’s Eli’s. The stickers only stick if you let them. And as Punchinello walks away believing his maker, a dot falls off.
Some of us have spent our lives looking into the wrong mirrors. Your desires don’t define you, your letdowns don’t label you, and your wounds don’t get the last word. You have a Father who refuses to let anyone else define your life. Let’s go there.
