Looking in the Mirror

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

- Philippians 4:8 NIV

So we’ve talked about holding both the good and the bad in things and other people, but what about in yourself?

I think it is easy for us to go to either extremes with ourselves. We sometimes can feel like we are really great, while we suppress the bad parts about ourselves, or pretend they don’t exist. In the same way, we can look at too much of the bad within us, and forget all the good that is inside as well. I think this is, unfortunately, the more common issue. After all, we are our own harshest critics.

In fact, I think it may be easier to have good filters in which to view others than it is to have good filters for viewing ourselves. To see ourselves with balanced filters, we need to consider our identity. Each one of us is made in God’s image. That is a good thing that we should hold onto. Yet, we all have our “stuff.” You know what I’m talking about. It’s the stuff that we don’t want to address or even look at in ourselves. The good news is that this stuff doesn’t take away from the fact that we are in the image of God! So we hold our stuff, yet hold onto the good that is being made in God’s image.

So, here’s what I want you to do. Assess how you view yourself. Do you see yourself in a good light, or a bad light? Are you ignoring the bad stuff in you, or are you only identifying yourself based on your stuff? What would it look like to balance that out a little bit? To view the reality that there is a mix of good and bad in yourself, just like everyone else? How does Jesus play into your view of yourself?

Spend a few minutes in prayer, asking God to help shift your lens in how you view yourself. Pray that in your spiritual journey the good and the bad won’t dissuade you from seeking Jesus. Pray that Jesus will remind you of who He is, and what He did for you on the cross.