The Lion King and the Heart’s Reflection (Proverbs 27:19)
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Proverbs 27:19
As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.
This verse led me to rewatching the Lion King scene where Rafiki has Simba look into the water to see his father’s face. At first Simba says he only sees himself, until Rafiki tells him to look harder…“Remember who you are.”
One, oh my goodness the gospel connections there are just incredible, and we’ll get to those in a second. But first, the verse. That reflection the water gave showed Simba his own face, in the same way that it would for you and me. And what we’re learning here is that as water reflects our face, so the heart reflects the man.
Put more simply, other translations say “As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”
You can discern a lot about your heart by looking into your life and you can discern a lot about your life by looking into your heart.
And initially that’s sobering. Sobering because you can’t hide what’s really going on in your heart forever — it eventually leaks out in your words, your choices, your relationships.
That’s why Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts with all vigilance…because everything we do flows from it.
So how is your heart this morning? What’s it saying about your life?
How’s your life? What’s it revealing about your heart?
Now let’s complete this circle of life and finish with that Lion King moment. You know the beautiful thing about that scene — Simba not only sees his own reflection in the water, but he starts to see his father’s reflection. And Rafiki reminds him that his father lives in him. I’m not kidding. He says that word for word: “You see.He lives in you.”
And the gospel is so evident in that. Because in Christ, that’s exactly what’s true of us. The Spirit of our Father lives in us. When we look at our lives, yes, we see ourselves — our flaws, our fears, our mistakes — but we’re also meant to see another face. The image of our Father.
And as Simba’s father Mufasa reminds him in that scene, he says, “You have forgotten me…remember who you are.”
How often is that true of us? We forget. We forget that we’re made in the image of God. We forget that our hearts have been made new in Christ. And when we forget, life shrinks down to just trying harder or faking better.
But the gospel calls us back: remember who you are — and even more, remember whose you are.
We no longer have a heart of stone but have been given a heart of flesh. And we can praise God for that.
So be encouraged today. When you look at your life, don’t just see yourself — see the Spirit of God in you, reminding you who you are and whose you are.
Let’s pray.
