"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The pitcher stretches and hurls the ball toward home plate. The catcher catches the pitch. The batter turns to the umpire with the question, "Was it a ball or a strike?"
The umpire says, "It's nothing until I say it's something."
Seems like an obvious truth, doesn't it? The fans in the stands see one thing. The pitcher and catcher both have their own thoughts. Each dugout is filled with various opinions. But, the reality is, the pitch is nothing until the umpire says it's something. And, it will be what he says it is.
Friend, that is the ultimate reality for the believer as well. In the end, we are whatever God says we are. And, if you are one of his, the Father says that you are righteous. He says that you are holy. He says that you are blameless in his sight.
Just as with the pitch in baseball, there are going to be many other opinions. The enemy will continually try to get you to define yourself by your mistakes. His goal is to cause you to characterize yourself by your failure rather than the position you hold as a child of God through Christ. It's his job. It's what the slimy, little weasel does.
But it's not just Satan. Each of us are surrounded by people much like the spectators in the stands. They have seen the pitch. They have formed an opinion based on some of the good things we have done, as well as some of the bad things. And, depending on their evaluation of what they have seen or heard, whether they are true or not, they begin to place describers around us. They characterize us by adjectives, some of them positive, and some negative.
That is just the way it is in the world we live. Satan is going to continue to remind us of our failures since he is the accuser, and he lives to accuse. And, people are people. It seems to be the nature of humankind to magnify the faults of others in order to minimize our own. I imagine that is why the bible speaks so often against judgment, slander and gossip. Just the other day I read Tony Campolo's take on the old Christian mantra, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Tony claims, and I just love this, that a more accurate description of Christ's teaching would be, "Love the sinner, hate your own sin."
I have been told that a person's self esteem is directly related to how the most important individual in their life views them. The image we have of ourselves directly corresponds to how we perceive the person closest to us evaluates us. It can be seen most clearly in children. When a parent continually berates and runs down a child, that child will most likely develop a poor self image. It is most obvious with small children, but it is equally true with adults. The way we see ourselves is directly related to how the most meaningful entity in our lives sees us.
That is probably one of the reasons we're such a fan of dogs. By and large, your dog is going to think you're the greatest thing that ever existed regardless of what might have happened the day before, or even the hour before. If I yell at my dogs one day for not responding when I call them...maybe I even grab them and give them a little shake...they are over it in minutes. The next time I walk past their kennel I can guarantee that they will be at the gate with their tails wagging a hundred miles an hour and smiling their stupid dog smiles. They think I'm the most wonderful thing that ever breathed. If they were the most important things in my life, my self image would be god-like.
Here is the good news for the believer. If Jesus Christ is the most important person in your life, he thinks you're great....he thinks you're wonderful. He not only thinks it, but he proved it by carrying the cross up Calvary, and punctuated his desire for you by allowing the spikes to be driven into his hands and feet. His love for you is indescribable, his pursuit of you is relentless, and his patience toward you is never ending. That should be a daily esteem booster for every child of God.
And, dear believer, never forget that you are what God says you are. Who you really are is not defined by the whisperings of the enemy, or the opinions of those in the stands, regardless of how close to you they may be. Who you really are is not even defined by the image you have of yourself, or the describers you place on yourself because of past sin and failure. You are what God says you are and, through Christ, he says you are perfect.
Let me give you just a few of the adjectives the Father uses to describe his children:
Your are forgiven: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
You are righteous: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:2)
You are holy, blameless, and beyond reproach: "Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—" (Colossians 1:22)
You are a child of the Creator of all things: "Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." 1 John 3:2
You are a sanctified (set apart) brother (or sister) of Christ's: "For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers...." Hebrews 2:11
Your are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 3:20)
You are qualified as an heir of God: "And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29)
You are joint heirs with Jesus Christ and a child of the living God: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ..." (Romans 8:16-17)
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." (1 John 3:1)
And, of course, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Friend, if you belong to Christ, you are what God says you are....and he chooses to see you as marvelously perfect. Don't allow yourself to be defined by anything apart from that regardless of what the enemy may whisper in your ear, or the adjectives that may come from the spectators in the stands.
No comments:
Post a Comment