Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:11-16
Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ. Ephesians 4:15
WHENEVER ELIZABETH heard her youth pastor talk about “seeing yourself like God sees you,” she knew that was exactly what she wanted-and needed. But she didn’t want to work at getting God’s vision of herself.
She wasn’t willing to do the main thing she needed to do-spend time with her Bible, studying and soaking in God’s truth. And even though she went to church, she wasn’t nuts about letting those people too close.
Elizabeth sounds like someone with bad eyes who wants to see more clearly but won’t wear glasses.
Fact is, you can’t change how you see yourself without diving into God’s Word. It’s how you bring into focus the fact that you are lovable, valuable, and useful to God and others. Peter wrote, “You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness” (1 Peter 2:2-3). God’s Word is the number one agent in renewing your minds to think like he thinks and see as he sees (see Romans 12:2).
But you also can’t change how you see yourself without connecting with God’s people. Through his Word, God shows you what he is like-huge things like his attributes, character, and personality. Then through the church, God puts skin on those qualities. He makes them real to you.
It’s like what Jesus did to demonstrate who God is. He revealed God in a way human beings could understand. Jesus told his disciples, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father …. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:9-10, NN).
God wants to use his Word and the Christians around you to make you doubly sure you are loved, valued, and useful. There’s no better way to discover how God sees you than to dig into God’s Word. And there’s no better way to pound home that you are loved by God than to have caring believers remind you of and reflect to you what God sees. It’s one thing to read about God’s view of you in the Scriptures or hear about it in a sermon or Bible study. It’s even more real when you experience God through the members of his church.
REFLECT: How are you letting God’s Word and his people into your life?
PRAY: Ask God to help you make God’s Word and interaction with his people the priority it needs to be in your life.
