Norman Rockwell was still producing cover art for the Saturday Evening Post when I was born. Even so, I have no direct memories of those magazine covers, yet I grew up hearing about Rockwell and his works and being familiar with many of them at an early age. One of my favorites has always been the work entitled "Triple Self Portrait." I remember being quite entertained by the difference in the image in the mirror versus what was being painted on the canvas.
We all have an idea of what we look like. The physical is easily confirmed (or denied!) by looking into most any available mirror (whether to our delight or dismay is another matter.) Similarly, we all have an idea of what we look like in character--who we are--but discovering the reality is a bit more difficult than the physical, and it is generally much more sobering. The reality consists in how others perceive us; as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that frequently others view me very differently from how I think of myself.
One of the great joys for a Christian is the realization that God knew exactly the person each of us was, warts and all, when Jesus died on the cross to secure for us forgiveness of sins, to redeem us, and to reconcile us to himself. That is the realization of God's love for us. For you. "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8.) Common in the experience of Christians, however, is that as God grows us and teaches us, we more and more see ourselves as God does, and that is disheartening to say the least. We increasingly see that not only do we fall short of the glory of God, we understand more and more how far short we fall! I can get pretty dejected when I think about this.
That is in essence looking backward; our focus should be that God loves us. Lay hold of the truth put forth in Leighton Ford's comment,
God loves us the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us that way.
If you know Jesus as lord and savior, it is God who has begun to work in you and he will complete what he started. And that work is to conform you to the image of his son--not how he looks but who he is.
1 comment:
Yes! I know what you mean! I pray to God to reveal Himself to me, help me to know Him better . . . and often he instead reveals me to me. Augh!!! But in seeing my own failures, I do learn more about His perfection, and I recognize anew the joy in knowing that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. whew.
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