I travel a lot so I can tell you from experience the mirrors in airplane bathrooms are extraordinarily revealing. You can go in there to brush your teeth, and suddenly you look like you’ve instantly aged ten years!
Mirrors are very powerful things.
But there are other “mirrors” in our life that are just as powerful, if not more.
It’s the mirror of a little boy looking up when he does something wrong and he sees his mom’s disapproval.
It’s the mirror of arriving at school thinking you look pretty only to realize about three minutes later that not only do you not look good but people are laughing at you.
It’s the mirror of disapproval from your spouse.
It’s the mirror of a boss or someone who says, “You don’t measure up!” “You’re dumb.” “You’re lazy.” “You’ll never amount to anything.”
And it’s the mirror of the media that says if you don’t have this perfect body and look this way then you aren’t acceptable.
We’ve all been affected by the warped mirrors in our past or present.
People, experiences, trauma, rejection, and media all tell us who we are – and most of the time, we believe them even though they’re inaccurate!
Why?
We are all searching for significance, security and acceptance in how we look, what we can do or perform, and the status that we achieve.
Sadly, the Christian community is not immune to this. Often, our responses to these mirrors are either denial or addictive behavior. It might be prescription drugs or alcohol, but usually, it’s overeating, people pleasing, overworking, and co-dependency.
Some of our problems are psychological, but too often we forget that there’s also a spiritual battle going on.
The enemy of our souls, Satan, is lying to us. As long as we believe his lies about our performance, status, significance, and success, he’s happy to stay undercover and let us chase the wrong things and ruin our lives.
Thankfully, God has some amazing good news! He says, “I want you to see yourself the way I see you.”
He says, “I made you exactly the way I made you. You have the DNA of no one else on the planet of almost seven billion people. You are unique, valuable, loved, and accepted.”
So why do we more often believe Satan’s lies over God’s truth? The battle begins in our minds.
All significant life-change begins in our thinking. Not our behavior, not our attitudes or even our emotions.
This is why we’re instructed: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. (Romans 12:2, 3)
When we renew our minds with God’s Word, and we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us — and then we actually believe and feel it — amazing things happen. Transformation occurs.
This is why it’s so important that we know what God says about us. We need to know that when we’re in Christ, each of us is fully accepted, just as we are. Each of us is significant because He has a plan for our lives.
Before the foundations of the earth, before we did anything, God wanted us.
It says in Ephesians 1:5 that he adopted us to be in His family, and He purposed that we would have significance. And our joy would be to declare the glory of God and what’s it like to be loved by Him.
So every single minute, of every day, when we begin to think, “I’m unworthy,” or “I’m not wanted,” or “I’m not good enough,” instead, we can begin to say, “Jesus wants me. God wants me.”
To explore this topic more in-depth, take a look at the series, “Unstuck.”
To explore more this topic more in depth take a look at Chip’s series “Unstuck,” “Rebuilding your Broken Word” or “Overcoming Emotions that Destroy.”
Written By
Chip Ingram
Founder & Teaching Pastor, Living on the Edge
Chip Ingram is the CEO and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. A pastor for over thirty years, Chip has a unique ability to communicate truth and challenge people to live out their faith. He is the author of many books, including The Real God, Culture Shock and The Real Heaven. Chip and his wife, Theresa, have four grown children and twelve grandchildren and live in California.
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