Self Image -Through the Eyes of Love - (2 Corinthians 10)
9:30 PM
As a child, did your parents make you feel you were special? Well in my case this did not happen. Growing
up in a dysfunctional home made me feel rejected most of the time. So I became
a people–pleaser to see if this way my parents would see me as someone special.
I also tried my best to do well in school, but I was shy and clumsy so my
schoolmates would make fun and this would only increase my low-esteem. I grew
up comparing myself to others and wanting to be like them because through my
eyes I was not good enough. Even though I tried hard at pleasing people, trying
to receive their approval I was always left feeling I wasn’t good enough!
God used a friend to make me understand how much my Heavenly Father loved me. That He loved me far more deeply than my earthly father or mother could ever love me (John 3:16). That we are precious in His sight!
Yes, you
are precious in His eyes because He created you a certain way, with special
abilities and special gifts. You are wonderfully made and uniquely gifted! The
Bible is clear about this:
“For you created my inmost
being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well”. (Psalm 139:13-14).
You are beautiful in God’s eyes! And because He
designed you, He watches you. He sees the things in you that you think go
unnoticed by others.
Through God’s Word I came to understand that we can choose to stop our negative thoughts and through the power of His Holy Spirit, bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). That we are to center our mind on God’s Truths (Philippians 4:8) as long as we live. As Christians we must remember that we are a purchased possession of Jesus Christ. We belong to Him!
In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (AMP), we read: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]? You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own].So then, honor and glorify God with your body.” Yes, we must honor and glorify God with our thoughts too!
As I continued seeking God through His Word I realized I had been set free from these negative thoughts (John 8:32), and now I was free to receive God’s love: the love of my Heavenly Father and I also became free to give this love back to my parents!
I became free to love
myself and appreciate others through God’s eyes. So I was free to love them and
accept them, too! I needed not to compare myself with others anymore. No need
to measure up to anyone (2 Cor. 10:12): not by outward appearance,
nor their success!
I know for some this is hard to believe,
especially if you don’t feel beautiful or didn’t have a parent telling you how
beautiful or special you are. You might
be thinking, “nothing is special about me”, “I’m a failure”… but let me tell
you we are loved in such a way that we should...
“See what an incredible
quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be
named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this
reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1John
3:1)
We might not understand such love of
our Father (1 John 4:19, Rom. 8:31-39), for someone like me… for someone like you.
But you must only believe that through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice:
“And although you were at one time
estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in
evil things, yet Christ has now reconciled you
[to God] in His physical body through death, in order
to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—…“
(Col. 1:21-23)
Only when you truly know you’re created in
His image and you see yourself as He sees you; through His loving eyes, you
come to appreciate and fully assume the gifts He has given you.
“However, “Let him who boasts boast
in the Lord.” For
it is not he who commends and praises himself who is approved
[by God], but it is the one whom the Lord commends and praises. “(2
Cor. 10:17-18 AMP)
“In a word, let us glory in the Lord our salvation, and in all other things only as evidences of his love, or means of promoting his glory. Instead of praising ourselves, or seeking the praise of men, let us desire that honor which cometh from God only.” (M. Henry)
So this 2019 let's just go ahead and be what
we were made to be for His Purpose!
Blessings my sisters!
Mari
0 comments