I recently saw a post from a friend of mine, and it got me thinking. I thought about how art can speak to our hearts in ways logic cannot. I pondered how gender can teach us certain advantages and disadvantages. I considered how tragic is the world’s conflation of subjective, ephemeral beauty and a person’s value, and how evil leverages it to speak lies to our souls.
How we see ourselves matters. When we look in the mirror, do we see the pinnacle of creation, royal co-heirs of the most high King, fearfully and wonderfully made? Do we see ourselves the way God sees us? Or do we see the flaws, the imperfections, the failures, the not-good-enoughs? If you’re not sure, there are a couple of ways you can check. You can stand in front of a mirror and examine yourself, consider your worth. Really take your time. What are the messages that come up? Another test is examining how you talk to yourself; within you will find the echoes and implications of your self-concept. Do you speak to yourself with compassion or contempt?
A.W. Tozer famously claimed, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” I believe this is true in the sense that it lays the groundwork for our eternal destiny. However, I prefer C.S. Lewis’s take on it. He said, “I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important.”
At some point, we must consciously submit to God’s truth over the world’s and over our own. If we do not, the world is our god or we become our own gods. If we will dare to believe God’s truth about us, though, what we find is more empowering, liberating, meaningful, and delightful than we could imagine. It stands in direct opposition to the hopelessness, consumerism, nihilism, competition, and depression of the world around us.
I dare you to believe you have surpassing value. I dare you to talk to yourself that way. I dare you to act like it. And when you do, I believe you will reflect Christ like never before and witness to his glorious love beyond what you ever thought you could.
Below is the poem my friend wrote (shared with permission from the author). Her perspective as a latina woman shines through; she has earned a beautiful self-concept despite the marketing and media and misogyny and racism she has seen in her life. I think it is my favorite example I have ever seen of a healthy, Christian view of self. I like it even more because I know Jessica; she embodies this. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Many people write self-affirmations in a way that is self-indulgent, even narcissistic. Not Jessica. Notice how she sees what is true about her body; she does not merely avoid what the world criticizes — but she sees the redemptive beauty in all of it. And she also sees beyond it to what matters more. I will conclude this post with her poem because I want her words to be what echoes in your mind. But I leave you with this: I dare you to talk to yourself and about yourself this way:
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