Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Mirrors tell us about ourselves.  We check them to see how we look and sometimes even feel.  My daddy used to put me in front of one when I was pouting and would show me how silly I looked!  It has been fun to watch the twins.  The mirror each other every day.  One of them will do something, like wave bye-bye and then the other will watch and seem to say, "Oh, we can do that?"  Then they will copy it on cue!  We learn so much about ourselves by our reflection. 

I am in the middle of a Biblical Counseling Training Course called Extrodinary Woman and it has reminded me again that our self concept, identity and sense of fulfillment is built over time by our mirrored reflections.  What our parents, peers, teachers, or others give us a sense of who we are.  By far the parent-child relationship is the most influencial influence on a child.  Even as an adult, many find themselves seeking their parents approval, desiring to hear that they are special, talented, smart or loved.  If you were blessed to have loving parents who took opportunities to tell you how fearfully and wonderfully you were made, you are probably pretty secure and confident in who you are and what your purpose is.  On the other hand, if you were not so fortunate and had unprepared, ungodly, unavailable or unloving parents your self concept was not based in the truth of who you were made to be.  It could be that your reflection mirrored back at you is a lot like looking into a fun house mirror that stretches, distorts or warps your perception of yourself.  I haven't even mentioned abuse which can further damage one's self image and leaves the abused feeling unvaluable or ruined beyond repair.

The Bible tells us over and over that we were made in God's image. Genesis 1:27 says, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Ephesians 4:24 tells us, "and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

When we spend time with the Father it is like looking into that mirror to see who we are meant to be.   We can study His Word and learn even more about ourselves. 

We are told that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), are a reward (Psalm 127:3), loved (John 3:16), accepted (Romans 15:7), chosen (Ephesians 1:4), important and have confident access in Him (Ephesians 3:12), taken care of (Philippians 4:19), and complete (Colossians 2:10) just to name a few!!!

James 1:22-24 says, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Beloved, do not forget who you are; you are valuable to God.  Value is determined by price, therefore you are worth the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.  Jesus paid the ultimate price for you determining your infinite worth to the Father!

I love this quote from a Study on "Who I am to God", by Kenneth Boa, "The more we embrace these truths from Scripture who we have become in Christ, the more stable, grateful, and fully assured we will be in this world." (http://bible.org/article/who-does-god-say-i-am)

I pray God will remind you who you are to Him today.  I pray, those of us with children will not take for granted the priviledge of telling our little blessings who they are created to be.  I pray that those of us struggling with our self concepts or images will look to Father for the truth about our identity.