We are own worst critics. Like me, you can probably point to everything that’s wrong with you.we know our own faults and failures. We know why God should never use us. To demonstrate this, I used to do a lesson with a group of teenagers I taught at church. I would take a piece of plain white paper, scribble in the middle of it and ask what they saw. Like clockwork, they treated it like a blob test. They called out everything under the sun of what they thought they saw. I then asked why no one said, “A paper,” or “A lot of unused space.” We tend to focus on the mess ups instead of the whole, then we disqualify ourselves. In fact, you probably just thought, “But you don’t know how bad I’ve messed up.” You’re right, I don’t, but then again, it doesn’t matter when it’s been forgiven.
When I read the Bible, I love to look at the heroes of faith. There are many people I’ve idolized in the Bible and wished I was more like them. I wish I had the same heart as David, and his courage too. I wish I had the boldness of Paul along with his tenacity. I look at Peter and wonder if I would have had the faith to get out of the boat. On and on it goes, but when I really examine their lives, I find that the heroes of the faith have messed up more than I ever have so far. David committed adultery and killed his lover’s husband to cover it up, yet God still kept him on the throne and used him. Paul spent a lifetime killing Christians before he became one. Jesus once called Peter, “Satan” because of his attitude. We can point to major flaws as we look at all these great leaders. If they weren’t disqualified, then neither are we.
The reason is that when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our past sins like we do. Instead, He sees His Son. Colossians 1:22 says, “And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored” (TPT). When God has forgiven you, He restores you. He makes you holy even though you don’t feel holy. In His eyes, you are flawless because you are covered by the righteousness of His Son. There is no sin you’ve ever committed that is stronger than His blood, so there is nothing you have done that will ever make Him see you as holy, flawless and restored. It’s time we began to change the focus of how we see ourselves so that we begin to see what God sees when we look in the mirror. Look at yourself and say, “Through Jesus, I am holy, flawless and restored.” Say it over and over until you believe it because God already does.
Photo by ShotPot.
Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 