Self-Image

In our broken world, our self image is largely determined by what kind of messages we have received on any given day from our friends, from our co-workers or colleagues. Do they like me? Am I valuable? Am I loved?

When we read the parables of Jesus, I think we are hearing a message from God about us. I am a sheep the shepherd has sought. I am a reckless child who was welcomed home. I am a worker who has not worked all day, but I have still been paid a whole day’s wage. I have been welcomed and blessed by the Father. I am a beloved child of God, sought and wanted. Like the writer of the Gospel of John who sees himself as “the one Jesus loves,” could I see myself that way regardless of the other messages of the day? That changes my self-image!

Jesus changes things...real things. He invites me to live in a better world, and to help make the world better. God likes me. God thinks I am, valuable. God loves me anyway and always. Our Christianity cannot be merely theoretical. What Jesus does, his people do. That is the way.