Issue 704 – Reflecting – April 4, 2022

This image of Emerald Lake got me reflecting on how we see ourselves.

Adam and Eve walked in paradise. They lived in a place of perfection with every need met and in the very presence of God. Their identity was bound up tightly into their image in God’s eyes. All they knew about themselves was what they discovered in a beautiful world, free of sin and what God shared with them. 

There was no “self-esteem” problem in the Garden. There was only knowing who they were in the eyes of the fall. 

Enter Satan and dissatisfaction. Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to be more than God had for them. In their desire, sin entered, followed by shame, fear, guilt and confusion. 

The loss of personal identity is devastating emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is no wonder that within a very short period of time, the whole human race had deteriorated into evil and decadence to such a profound degree that God would drown them all. 

Without the close presence of God, people searched everywhere for their identity. They followed every whim of the opinion of others. They tried every lie of the devil. 

Things have not changed. We continue to search for our identities in all the wrong places. We forget that we were individually designed by God and created in His image. We look into the mirror of what others think or check ourselves in the mirror of media images crafted out of airbrushed, plastic people moulded into some other person’s idealized vision of what they think someone should be like. 

We weigh ourselves on the scales of fame, success, education, possessions and other invalid scales to see who we are. We try and shape our image through power and possessions. If we don’t like how we measure up, we drown the image in booze, dope, food, and sex. 

Our constant seeking of true self drives ever downward in an empty spiral as we chase something that the world was never designed to tell us. We cry out, “Who am I?” We wonder how we measure up, but we have no adequate or accurate scale. We wonder, “Why am I here?” and hear either silence or more meaningless lies come back as echoes. 

To find our true selves, we must again seek to walk closely with the only accurate measure. We must walk with God and dig deeply into His Word to see who we are in His eyes. No other measure matters. No other true scale exists. 

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

1 Corinthians 13:12

We will not fully understand who we are this side of glory, but we can know that we are created in God’s image and loved beyond measure. We can know that we are not mistakes and have a purpose in life. We can understand that we are gifted for service with eternal tasks laid out for us to complete. 

Until next time, rejoice in your true identity. If you know Christ, you are a person of eternal value, a child of the true king.

Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

Be blessed. 

Kevin.

Gleanings From The Word.

Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

Soli Deo Gloria (for the glory of God alone.)

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV). Spelling modified to Canadian English as required. 

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