The other day I was doing a chore I so often neglect – I cleaned my car. The typical things were done like sweeping the floor, washing the windows, and of course locate $6 worth of change that somehow made its way underneath the front seat (Maybe not quite $6). As I was washing the windows, I decided to wash the rear-view-mirror. I took some Windex out and proceeded to spray it on the mirror. As I did, I noticed my reflection in the mirror had changed. The view that I saw was not the view that reflected who I truly was and what I looked like. Likewise, too often we live our lives looking at ourselves not as God sees us, but as the enemy would like us to perceive ourselves.

There is another mirror that we can look through called the Word of God that will not reflect a distorted image to us. Rather, it will reflect our true identity in Jesus Christ. Thus, we have to determine if we want a Biblical self-image or a distorted image that the enemy desires for us to assume.

Our self-image is the composite picture we have of ourselves. This is developed either by God’s Word or by our peers, our parents, and the media. It is up to us!

In his book Searching for Significance Robert McGee offers 4 lies that the enemy will try to muster in order for us to stay in bondage to a distorted self-image.

Colossians 1:21-23 - 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Isaiah 53:5 - But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

2 Cor. 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Furthermore, too develop a healthy self-image also requires that we except our own strengths and limitations and be satisfied with the looks, gifts, and talents that God has bestowed upon us. Elizabeth Elliot gives a marvelous illustration to illustrate my point.

In her book Let Me Be a Woman, she records the story of Gladys Aylward unable to accept the looks God had given her. Ms. Aylward told how when she was a child she had two great sorrows. One, that while all her friends had beautiful golden hair, hers was black. The other, that while her friends were still growing, she had stopped. She was about four feet ten inches tall. But when at last she reached the country to which God had called her to be a missionary, she stood on the wharf in Shanghai and looked around at the people to whom He had called her. "Every single one of them" she said, "had black hair. And every one of them had stopped growing when I did." She was able to look to God and exclaim, "Lord God, You know what You're doing!" (1)

(1) http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/self_acceptance.htm