Seeing Yourself Through God's Eyes (2 page)
Read Seeing Yourself Through God's Eyes Online
Authors: June Hunt
Day 15: I Am Reconciled to God
Day 16: I Am Given a New Heart by God
Day 17: I Am Given the Spirit of God
Day 18: I Am Given Everything I Need by God
Day 19: I Am Given Strength from God
Day 20: I Am Given the Mercy of God
Day 21: I Am Given the Grace of God
Day 22: I Am Given Complete Access to God
Day 23: I Am Given the Mind of Christ
Day 24: I Am Created to Do Good Works for Christ
Day 25: I Am an Ambassador for Christ
Day 26: I Am Being Conformed to Christ
Day 27: I Am Complete in Christ
Day 28: I Am Clothed with the Righteousness of Christ
Day 30: I Am Safe in the Protection of God
Day 31: I Am Secure in the Love of God
D
ear Friend,
Can you imagine what it would be like to be married…to exchange vows…to unite your hands and hearts? Now joined together as one, you and your bride drive to the airport, full of excitement about your honeymoon.
But before boarding the plane, you realize:
Oh no…my wallet!
Racing to return to the car, you yell, “I’ll be back, honey—right back!”
She waits, and waits, and waits…until the plane leaves and your new bride is still left waiting. She’s frantic now. After a thorough search of the airport and all known familiar spots, her new groom seems to have vanished!
Such is the true case of Sean McNulty, who was found three days later—wandering…disoriented…bug-bitten from head to toe. He didn’t know his beloved Amy. He didn’t know his own mother. He had amnesia—he didn’t know his identity.
Identity.
What would it be like to not know your own identity—to have
spiritual amnesia?
If you don’t know who you are, you cannot experience deep inner peace and complete contentment—for instead, confusion reigns.
Sadly, this is how many people live today—they simply don’t know who they are. But you do not have to live this way. The key is to learn to
see yourself through God’s eyes.
What if you simply don’t know how God views you? The 31 daily devotions in this book will help you see your God-given worth and will remind you that, as a believer,
you are very special
in the heart and mind of the One who made you. Are you able to accept the truth that you have precious worth?
It might help to ask yourself,
How is the worth of an item established?
Let’s assume you are at an auction. Item after item is presented for sale and item after item is sold—not always to the
same
bidder, but always to the
highest
bidder. To the one willing to pay the highest price.
Consider this: Jesus paid the ultimate price for you when He came to earth as a man, willingly died on the cross, and paid the penalty for your sins. Jesus Christ as God did not have to redeem you. But He loves you so much—you are so valuable to Him—He willingly paid the highest price.
Without a doubt, you have great worth in His eyes!
By meditating daily on the scriptures you read over the next 31 days, you will see your worth. As you train your mind to focus on the truth about yourself, your emotions will “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
In your heart, commit to faithfully do these spiritual exercises…take time to soak up all their truths. Then these Scripture passages will begin to saturate your heart, transform your thinking, and help develop the true picture of who you are…from God’s point of view, the true point of view.
I want this to be an encouraging study for you! My prayer is that as you meet with God, you will take to heart His precious perspective of you. I pray that your emotions will be steadied and your heart will be secured because you will have begun to
see yourself through God’s eyes.
Yours in the Lord’s hope,
June Hunt
E
very person born into this world has had difficulty with identity at some time or another. All of us have struggled with our self-image.
Many spend a lifetime manipulating acceptance and attention from others, thinking they are building an indestructible tower of self-worth. Yet when people fail us and our logical expectations of our loved ones fall painfully short, our own self-worth can begin to crumble.
That’s exactly the problem if we let our
identity be in another person
—we give that person too much control of us. And more so, we miss the vision God has of us and the immense value He places on us. The steps to understanding these truths are paved throughout Scripture. To tread these steps, we need to have a full understanding of what is meant by
identity.
Have you ever asked yourself,
Who am I? Where am I going?
Do you understand your God-given worth? How essential to have accurate answers to these questions so that you can be what God created you to be and do what God created you to do.
Realize your
identity
ultimately determines your worth and your destination. In a very practical sense, if I were to enter a bank, step up to a teller, and say, “May I have $100?” the teller would ask for my account number or my name. If I had amnesia and didn’t know who I was, I could not provide this information. And if I continued to request money, I would receive nothing but the directions to the front door.
However, knowing there are resources in my name—regardless of who placed them there—as long as I provide the teller with my name and account number, I can quickly receive the cash requested. My
identity
definitely determines my
worth
and my ability to draw upon that reserve.
What about your destination?
Where are you going?
Some time ago I planned to fly from Dallas to Atlanta to speak at a convention and arrived at the airport with time to spare. Prior to the final boarding call, I made a quick phone call, using the extra time I thought I had. When I began to board, I was told they had started assigning seats for standby passengers and I should have checked in at the main desk (mistakenly, I thought the boarding pass in my hand was sufficient…but my seat might have been given to someone else).
My heart raced as I approached the agent at the desk and handed him my ticket. Would I be allowed to leave? A silent eternity passed as he scanned a computer screen for the official flight passenger list.
He checked for my name, saw it, and said with a smile, “Yes, you are on this flight. You may board the plane.” Indeed, my
identity
was directly linked to the
destination
of that plane.
Much more critical is our identity in terms of ultimate worth and eternal destination. The Bible states there are two different “identities” or “families” for all human beings: those who are
in Adam,
and those who are
in Christ.
First Corinthians 15:21-22 says, “Since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
The question is this:
To which of these two families do you belong?
Your personal identification with one of these families will determine your characteristics and your inheritance.
Our physical characteristics are determined by our biological families. In college, my freshman roommate was Josephine Eng from Hong Kong. She had straight black hair, dark brown eyes, a dark complexion, flattened features, and a small frame. In stark contrast, I had curly blond hair, green eyes, a fair complexion, angular features, and a large frame.
No matter how much time I spent with Josephine, I could never possess her characteristics. Simply put, I could not have Eng characteristics unless I had been born into the Eng family. Likewise, when we were born into the family of Adam, we
inherited characteristics
from his family line.
Since Adam made the choice in the Garden of Eden not to obey God, he and all his descendants are “identified” with sin (this is their
identity).
This heart of independence is the basic
nature
we have all inherited. Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Consequently, our
natural inclination
is to sin because we are born of Adam’s family.
However, since God made it possible for us to change families, we are able to receive a new identity—
a new nature!
You can be “adopted” into the family of Christ and become a child of God. Then you lose your identity in Adam and receive your identity in Christ. As a result, you receive your
new characteristics.
The Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Your old natural
sin nature
is supernaturally changed into a new
divine nature
(2 Peter 1:3-4). A consequence of this new identity is a
new worth
based on the abundant resources placed into your personal account. A second consequence is a
new destination
throughout eternity, where you will forever be secure in the presence of God.