Self-image
Scriptures: Genesis 1:26,27; 5:1; 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7, James 3:9
"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:26-27, NIV)
[1]
" This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them “man.”" (Genesis 5:1-2, NIV)
[2]
"“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." (Genesis 9:6, NIV)
[3]
"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness." (James 3:9, NIV)
[4]
1. We are created in the image of God. Patterned after him.
a. There are some things about you that tell us some things about God.
i. He has great concern for individuality. No two people are the same in any way. If you fail to become the person that God created you to be then no one else can fill that role.
ii. He doesn’t have the same concern for the outward man that we have. Cosmetic Fixation, it’s overtaking the nation. It’s such a sick situation. Is her hair real blonde are her legs real long. Does she look real foxy on the party lawn. You pretend your love is true but she’s just a symbol of success to you. Cosmetic fixation we pursue it with dedication. Cosmetic fixation, you know we use it like a medication. You go the foreign car with the phone and bar and the license plate says who you are. You pretend you’re satisfied. Yes, but it’s only there to stroke your pride. We’re so concerned about keeping up appearances and all the while we ravage our humanity. We’re so annoyed with the Truth’s interferences and real values get sacrificed to vanity. Cosmetic fixation, it’s overtaking the nation. Cosmetic fixation you know we treat it like the great vocation. You got the house on the hill. Your Jacuzzi’s filled. And the Dom Perignon is nicely chilled. It’s like all those magazines but in the end it doesn’t mean a thing. The most beautiful thing to God is what is resident in the heart and he sees that before he sees anything else.
iii. He doesn’t relate our worth to success. We watched some athletes play ball a few weeks ago and there were some men receiving astronomical amounts of money for what they do. There is just no way that a single living human being is worth those extravagant amounts of money to a team.
b. I believe that He made us to respond as He would in any given situation. Although it is not a natural response the supernatural response is what brings us the greatest fulfillment in life.
c. He has a different method of assessing our worth than we have in this world. (servanthood, stewardship,
2. If a person really wants to understand himself/herself, they are better off seeking to understand God.
That’s not the way of modern psychology. A person can look too deeply within himself and only bring confusion.
“We are never told in the Word of God to examine our inward condition. That way leads only to uncertainty, vacillation and despair. Of course we have to have self-knowledge. We have to know what’s going on within. We do not want to live in a fool’s paradise; to have gone altogether wrong and yet not know we have gone wrong; to have a Spartan will and yet think we are pursuing the Will of God but such self-knowledge does not come by our turning within; by our analyzing our feelings and motives and everything that’s going on inside and then trying to pronounce whether we are walking in the flesh or the Spirit.” The Normal Christian Life – Watchman Nee p.237
a. It’s a mistake for us to let the wrongs in people give us a negative impression of God. God is never as He is misrepresented.
3. Until a person comes to God in surrender to His will for their lives they will have a fragile self-image at best. There will always be a missing element in their relationships with others until equilibrium is established in their hearts.
The worldly recipe for self-image is:
[ Approval of your friends or peers
[ Some measure of success
[ Possessions
[ Power
God’s prescription for a healthy self-image is:
[ A clear conscience
[ A sense of purpose
[ A sense of security
[ Accepting God’s assessment of your potential
A Native Prayer
O Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to the world, hear me!
I come to you as one of your many children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom.
May I walk in beauty. Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Make me strong, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes, so that when my life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit will come to you without shame.
* A Native Prayer narrated by Chief Dan George on Man Alive, "The Great Yes To Life", telecast February 19 on CBC-TV
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.