Know Who You Are
Whether we realize it or not, we are all vulnerable to letting other people label and define us. We allow the false things that people say about us or the way they treat us to determine our worth and value. Even when we know it's not true about us, we walk away feeling ashamed, inferior, intimidated, or angry. So how do we keep what we know is our true identity from be stolen or distorted?
Just as we look in the mirror to see our true physical image, God wants us to be able to know our true spiritual image by looking into the mirror of His Word. In Genesis 1, the first thing God says about you and me is that He created us in His image. Having His image and likeness inside us was meant to be our source of strength and confidence. But that image was distorted when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and were separated from God. Even then God said, "I'm going to rebirth this image in you." So the image of God was given a rebirth in you when you put your faith in Jesus and He came to live in you.
Do you know who you are? If Jesus lives inside, you can live in a place of strength to say no to the labels other people try to put on you. But you need to know who you are in Him, so you have the authority to say no. The good news is that God knows who you are. The Bible says, "God has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 1:22). He's already identified you as bearing His image and likeness, as being His child, as being indwelt by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
I can't think of a higher calling on this earth than to bear the image of Almighty God. Don't let anyone label you as less-than. Your value doesn't change because your circumstances change or because someone says something about you. God, and God alone, defines you. Allow His Word to instruct you on all that you have received in Jesus, and put yourself in the presence of God in worship and let Him adjust and reaffirm His image in you. He wants that image to be deeply impressed into your very being. When you put on Christ's identity, He'll give you His victory, and you'll get to where you're intended to be.
Just as we look in the mirror to see our true physical image, God wants us to be able to know our true spiritual image by looking into the mirror of His Word. In Genesis 1, the first thing God says about you and me is that He created us in His image. Having His image and likeness inside us was meant to be our source of strength and confidence. But that image was distorted when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and were separated from God. Even then God said, "I'm going to rebirth this image in you." So the image of God was given a rebirth in you when you put your faith in Jesus and He came to live in you.
Do you know who you are? If Jesus lives inside, you can live in a place of strength to say no to the labels other people try to put on you. But you need to know who you are in Him, so you have the authority to say no. The good news is that God knows who you are. The Bible says, "God has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 1:22). He's already identified you as bearing His image and likeness, as being His child, as being indwelt by Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
I can't think of a higher calling on this earth than to bear the image of Almighty God. Don't let anyone label you as less-than. Your value doesn't change because your circumstances change or because someone says something about you. God, and God alone, defines you. Allow His Word to instruct you on all that you have received in Jesus, and put yourself in the presence of God in worship and let Him adjust and reaffirm His image in you. He wants that image to be deeply impressed into your very being. When you put on Christ's identity, He'll give you His victory, and you'll get to where you're intended to be.