15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Romans8:15-16
We identified three key contributing factors to poor self-images:
- brokenness: we live in an imperfect world with imperfect bodies and imperfect relationships.
- distortion: our views of reality, others and ourselves are distorted and cause us heartache
- filters: when we experience the pain of brokenness and distortion we often create filters that cause us to interpret the signals we get wrongly.
How do we address the distortion caused by the "hall of mirrors" effect that the media and society has on how we see ourselves?
The first step is to get a Reliable Guide. Our parents, our friends, fashion and the media are not reliable guides. Our Reliable Guide is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit whispers a vital truth into our inmost beings: We are sons and daughters of God. We don't have to earn it and we most certainly haven't deserved it. We are _adopted_ by God - we are His children by _His_ decision and not on our merits.
When the world tells us that we are inadequate and undeserving of love because we are not cool, or because we don't look like super-models, or because we have failed in the past, then lets listen to the "Voice of Truth."
VOICE OF TRUTH (A song by Casting Crowns)
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Oh what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is, and he's holding out his hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win, you'll never win
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
Oh, what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a 1000 warriors shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me time and time again
"Boy you'll never win, you'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
But the stone was just the right size to put the giant on the ground
and the waves they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles when I stop
and listen to the sound of Jesus singing over me
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
The Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of truth says "this is for my glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
