Do You See What I See?

I stood there in front of the mirror with the instruction of apologizing to the parts of my body I'd once picked apart like a vulture on roadkill. As bazar as it may sound, shortly into the exercise tears fell from my eyes as I began to feel the Father's heart towards me and the hurt I'd caused him by degrading his work of art. The whole point of the activity was to begin to see as God sees. To trade my warped scope for his lens of beauty. The longer I stood in front of the mirror the more the awkwardness faded and I began to see clearly.

That encounter I had with my mirrored self was two years ago. Now, when I take a glance at myself and see with a crooked view, it's only a matter of seconds before I hear that strong, yet gentle voice of correction. I'm learning to see more from my Father's perspective, and it starts with how I see me. You see, he's the Good Artist, and none of his work has flaw.

Yet somehow, more often than not, what we see is not what he's created. How so? We've allowed society's perspective, skewed images of beauty, and our own preferences to glaze our vision. In doing so, we begin to live a lifestyle of demeaning the exact thing he's been calling "very good" since the beginning.

While some of the battle is physical, it's certainly not all of it. Many of us walk around, myself included, with negative self talk raging through our minds. Most often it's things we'd never say or think about any other living creature, let alone, a human being.

"You're not qualified for this," is a pesky accusation I hear more times than I'd like to admit. Thankfully, I've gone on a journey to recognize that lowly voice, and can now distinguish it from the truth. However, it doesn't always mean that what I hear doesn't feel true. I could easily succumb to the lies disguised in my own thoughts, but I've found ignoring them to be a better tactic. On a good day, I'll even hear the me in my head pipe up, "Well, that's not true!" And on a real good day, I even manage to squeak a chuckle out.

In order to differentiate the falsehoods we must familiarize ourselves with the truth! Not just what others claim to be true or even what we know to be true, but with the actual truth.  John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

Only the words of Jesus have power and authority and reign as absolute truth. His words have the ability to dismantle the fortress of lies built up in the palace of our minds and leave us with something substantial. His word is a foundation worth building on.

"Hold up Cas," you may be thinking. "Sounds like a great idea, but how do we do this thing?" Valid question. So let's go there. Your journey may, and I'd even say, should look different than the person beside you. King Jesus really is that personal, and he has specific truths and keys to unlock the lies that have held you captive for years. However, a great place to start is by simply asking Jesus two questions: 1. God, what are the lies I'm believing about myself?

2. Jesus, what is the truth about this?

For every lie you're currently believing, Jesus has a higher truth. And his truth will launch you into freedom. If you're worried about not hearing his voice, don't panic. Jesus says in John 10 his sheep hear his voice and follow him. Yay! That's good news. By your design, you hear the voice of your loving Father.

However, if you're reading this and you don't know sweet Jesus as your Maker and Lover or have honestly never heard is voice, I'd love to hear from you. Please connect with me and we'll have a conversation. No, really! It would make my day.

Seeing ourselves different than our Maker is no new scheme. Gideon saw himself as small, poor, and insignificant when God called him a "mighty man of valor." (see Judges 6) Again, Moses called himself a nobody when the most somebody there ever was promised to be with him (Exodus 3). The list goes on, but God always has a better word to say. And man, does he have a lot to say about who we are! Scripture says we're God's special possession (1 Peter 2:9), righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21), a bight light (Matthew 5:14), his handiwork (Ephesians 2:10), and so much more.

I wonder what our world would look like if we simply believed correctly about ourselves. The Bible says all of creation waits for that day! (check out Romans 8:19). This gives me great hope that it's possible for me to walk in such a manner now.

I can't afford to think differently about myself than Jesus does, but I may need some help getting there.

With the feeling of Jesus' crushed heart from the way I saw myself still so fresh I could recall it, I began to cry out of his help. I wasn't going to be able to make this transformation happen on my own, and I was okay with that. In my asking, I saw Jesus standing in front of me with a gift. It was a beautiful, golden handheld mirror. He promised when I looked through it, I would always see rightly. I thanked him immensely and told him I was eager to use it. However, the idea of seeing from his reality only through this small handheld mirror was weighing on me. So I asked him for a favor.

Within minutes, the mirror had been altered into the most intricate and beautiful pair of golden glasses I'd ever seen. I quickly put them on and my world became much more precise. Colors were more vibrant, scenery was more beautiful, and people were more lovely than ever before.

It was then I noticed something. When I saw the world around me through the eyes of love, compassion became my natural response, life was filled with wonder, and I looked at myself with endless possibility.

Find the eyes of love. And when you do, look so intently that the way you see yourself, your world, your Maker, and others becomes perfectly aligned to the vision of heaven.

*Shout out to Anthropology for the mirror pic ;)