I had the privilege to share at my church last night and talk about how it practically looks when we are created in the image of God. We have been doing a series called Crossing To The Other Side and this was a part of that series.
Right back at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1:27 (ESV), it says
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
We are created in HIS image. We are like God, but we cannot be fooled like Adam and Eve that we are God and can know all things like God does.
We live in a broken world and sin has since that moment of deception in the garden of Eden, it has invaded our lives and continues to try and infiltrate our minds in many ways.
As small children raised in a healthy home, most of us would have been told how beautiful or handsome we are, parents spoke life and purpose into our lives.
But today, many of us look in a mirror and we don’t see someone in the image of God, instead we see labels that the enemy has spoken into our minds, maybe through family members or peers, words like…. (put words onto the mirror behind me)… Alone, Ugly, Inferior, Powerless, Fat, Unimportant, Misunderstood, Rejected, Worthless, Insignificant, Ashamed, Judged
Then we live under the weight of these labels. They become our normal. Our minds become so consumed with these lies that we don’t see our way across to the other side. We get held back because we deem ourselves unworthy, unusable, unloveable and underqualified.
For such a long time I lived believing so many lies about myself. I had low self esteem and hid behind a mask of being okay. But I would visit my dad and he would comment about my weight, usually that it had gone up. He would tell me not going to university would mean I would amount to nothing. He projected a lot of his own insecurities and brokenness onto me. He was about 18 stone and had not attended university. They are just two examples.
I searched for my worth in relationships and although I craved words of affirmation, compliments or encouragement, they became empty when I got them as I doubted people really meant what they were saying.
When I was in my late 20’s I went to Bible College and God broke me, in a good way. Someone encouraged me to put positive words on my mirror because I looked in that every day, words that reflected how God saw me. So I did. Daily I read the words…. (put red words on mirror over black words)…. Loved, Happy, Accepted, Leader, Priceless, Forgiven, Purpose, Victorious, Called, Free, Blessed, I Have A Voice, Successful, Chosen, New Creation, Daughter of God. I began to renew my mind with how God saw me as it says to do in Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)
12 …….present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c]but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…..
So when we come into relationship with God we begin to strip away our old selves in order to again reflect the image of God as we were created to. As we lay down our self, we are transformed back into the image of God and as we do that we can accept and believe God’s Word when it says in Jeremiah 1:5 (AMP)
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own];
or the NIV version
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
Or Psalm 139:14 English Standard Version (ESV)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Or the Amplified Bible version
14
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
We can’t give thanks or believe these things if we don’t move out from under the lies that we live under. We can’t get to the other side if don’t renew how we view ourselves. God said in Mark 12:30, 31 (AMP)
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’
31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The two greatest commandments are about love. But how can we accept love if we don’t think we are worthy of it? How can we give love if we cannot love ourselves?
The love it speaks about in this verse in Mark 12, is what is known as AGAPE LOVE. It is not an emotional love, but an action, it is the act of having unselfish concern for another and seeking the best for the other person. But the verse says we love your neighbour as you love yourself…. That means we have to have unselfish concern for ourselves and seek the best for ourselves. We have to believe the truth God says about us so we can love others in that same truth.
Our identity cannot be found in the words our peers and family say, it is found in the heart of God and in His outpoured love for you.
So God has made you and I in His image, each of us is unique. We have our own personality, our own physical attributes and looks, and we have each been given a set of gifts and talents.
If you are an introvert, a people watcher, don’t despise that. Don’t look at the extrovert, the centre of attention and wish you were them. You may have more discernment about how someone is really feeling because you can sit back and watch and give time to see a breaking heart. God can give you words of encouragement because you may allow more time to incline your ear to Gods whisper.
You may have a personality like mine, who some have labelled as bossy. But God has shown me that he needs leaders to get things done and he has gifted me with administrative giftings to pull together things and create order in a way others can’t. If I despise that gifting, it won’t grow and God will raise someone else in my place. Who may ask with a grumpy and angry face, unlike the smile you get from me 😊 But I choose to walk into my gifting and not take a negative label that would hold me back from being obedient to God.
You may not like the way you look. For years I have said my curvy shape is from my DNA and heritage. I have often hated my figure, I dislike shopping for clothes, I cry at photos of myself sometimes as I don’t feel attractive. So as an early birthday present Dom got me a DNA kit so I could find out my heritage and prove to my family I was right and my curves came from Maori heritage that we don’t know about….. I was also going to see if I was related to Steve or Robyn or Tiana (some of the team at my church). Turns out, I don’t have a drop of Maori or Polynesian in my DNA. I’m more French…. Still don’t know may curvy Frenchmen…. But, if I had truly weighted who I was on and my identity on DNA alone, I could have been crushed. Thankfully, I believe the word of God that tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made…. And I remind myself that my husband loves my curves and God made me for him.
Perhaps you don’t know what your gifts or talents are , what has God put in your hand? Are you a tradie? Use your gifts practically to get stuff done around the church. Do you have an ear for sounds, come and join the production team. Do you have an eye for detail or design? There’s a place for you….. God made us in His image, He is a creative God, so He created us with gifts and talents so we can make the world around us better for those who come into it.
So my question as I finish is this…. Are you ready to come out from under the lies and cross to the other side where God is waiting for you to be proud of who He created you to be. Made in his image, made to reflect Him in who you are.
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