You’re a work in progress and becoming more like Christ as you submit to him. Agree with God’s design, and remember, he’s not finished with you yet, so have hope.
What do you think about yourself in a full-length mirror? Well, let me tell you about my
my encounter with one of those full-length mirrors. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and it was in 1969, just weeks after I was released from rehab. And one of the first things my friends wanted to do was take me to a shopping mall. As I powered my wheelchair past a few stores, I saw some great-looking sweaters on the mannequins. My friend took me into the dressing room where she slid the sweater on me. And I stared at the mirror, and it looked frumpy. And I knew that everything I’d try on that day would be just as disappointing. I left the mall a little envious of the mannequins. At least they were standing up, clothes hung very nicely on them. Now, my problem wasn’t clothes; it was the way I viewed myself in that mirror. When I was in that dressing room? I reasoned that if what I saw in the full-length mirror [me in a clunky wheelchair]; if that was an example of God’s love for me, then how could I trust him?
But 2 Corinthians 10:12 has the answer. This is what it says: “When they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are not wise.” Friend, when you compare yourself with other people [like I was doing with those mannequins], you keep coming up short. When we reject God’s design in making us the way we are, we will have trouble putting confidence in the one who designed us. And so, with a negative self-image, it’s impossible to love God, as well as love others. This was a real problem for me. Putting so much focus on myself, I couldn’t really like others because I was always comparing myself to them. Matthew 19 says that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But if we cannot love ourselves the right way, it sure is going to be hard to love others in the right way.
But then someone showed me Isaiah 45: “Woe to him who strives with his maker! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘what are you making?’” That word of God nailed me. It struck a healthy fear of God in me, and so slowly I began yielding my life in my wheelchair to him and over time; what a difference Jesus made not only in my attitude toward myself, but to others. Friend, there is a reason God gave you the appearance you have and according to Romans 8:28, it’s a great reason. God intends to use your outward qualities to cultivate inward qualities that reflect Jesus. Things like humility and meekness, love, joy, gentleness, peace, goodness, and self-control. God will sacrifice the outward appearance and abilities in order to develop inward character [I mean that’s the story of my broken neck]. So, my wheelchair is now God’s mark of ownership on me, constantly reminding me who I belong to. Ephesians 2:10 puts it this way: “We are God’s workmanship.”
That means you are a work in progress as you yield to your maker. You are becoming like Christ as you submit to him. Agree with God’s design, and remember, he’s not finished with you yet, so have hope. Hey, I share all this in a video that I’ve posted on my Facebook page as well as on my radio page at joniradio.org. Because when you are content with who you are in Christ, then you are free to serve others, and to glorify God by your satisfaction with his design. It’s what a good self-image looks like! And you can learn more about it at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends