YOUR MIRROR TELLS LIES

All of us constantly receive the message that even the smallest flaw somehow diminishes our value to society. Regardless of the product we buy, the program we belong to, or the faith we embrace, none of us can escape confronting our own imperfections.

Whether I am alone with my thoughts or in a crowded room or just looking at my reflection in the mirror, I’m reminded that I don’t measure up to the ideal. And since my flaws are more obvious to me than to anyone else, I may begin to think of myself as a statistic or failure.

People will do things in their quest for worldly acceptance that they would not have even imagined doing otherwise--from cosmetic surgery to suicide or murder.

If we could view beyond our earthbound perimeters into the heavenly realm----a place just as real as our own world but invisible to the natural eye----we would discover One who fully knows and appreciates our worth. It is a place where, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

Yes, Someone knows your true value and dignity can never be measured by a tailor, calculated by an accountant, molded by a surgeon, or applauded by an audience.

Because God has the ability to look beyond your shortcomings, you can be assured of three things.

1. God will use you for His glory.

Danger lurks behind feelings of inferiority. They can become excuses to disobey God spiritually and immobilize you. When God called Moses to lead Israel to the promised land, he tried to convince God of all of his failings, his speech impediment, his lack of leadership experience, his upbringing in a household led by worshipers of idols, and the murder that led to his fleeing into the wilderness. In my life and in yours Gods will marches forward regardless of our perceived shortcomings. Whenever I feel that others have cast me out, abandoned me, and written me off, I have learned to take heart as I know that I may be on the very threshold of being used by God in an extraordinary way.

2. God will accept you just as you are.

Psychologists say the need for acceptance is at the core of our social behavior. The greater our desire for acceptance, the more vulnerable we are to getting hurt emotionally or of succumbing to peer pressure. The road to peer pressure is paved with conformity to their expectations, but God loves me perfectly right now , He desires conformity to His expectations and plan, yet my failure to see His plan does not diminish His love for me. Jesus addressed this as He taught those in His presence the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). Your Heavenly Father is poised to accept you--- no strings attached.

3. God will honor your faith.

The Gospel of Luke records a story of an encounter that Jesus had with a Roman military official whose slave was dying. The messengers sent to contact the Christ and to plead with him for the slave were fully persuaded that their master was worthy to receive a miracle. After all, he was an active supporter of the religion of the Jews. They wasted no time in bringing this to the Lords attention. But as Jesus approached, we find that the mans assessment of himself was not nearly as grand as those around him. He sent a second group to seek the Lord and to relay the message: “Lord don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But if you will only say the word, then I know that my servant will be healed.” (Luke 7:6-7) Think of it a man highly esteemed within his community, did not see himself as deserving a face to face dialogue with Jesus. Yet his readiness to take Jesus at His word was praised and rewarded.

You may measure yourself as a nobody, while others around you think differently. And yet, the miracle is that God honors your faith.

God will take our weakness, our doubts, struggles, and immaturity, and look beyond them if we only take Him at His Word, remembering His promises and living in the fact of (Matthew 10:30-31).