Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Psalm 14:2-3 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.
PERSPECTIVE: A VIEW OF MYSELF
Psychology has shown that if a person is shown multiple pictures of themselves, some being altered slightly to enhance physical appearance and some altered to degrade physical appearance, the person in question will almost always choose one of the better pictures as the photo which reflects them the best. The final conclusion of the study: We generally look better in our head than in reality.
This is true not only about our physical appearance but our spiritual one as well. It is so easy for us to forget how we yelled at our wife, how we lost our temper, how we disobeyed our parents, how we gave in to the lusts of youth, how we failed to do our absolute best at work, etc. It is easy to forget these things because our mental image of our spiritual condition is often not measured against the only true standard of God's word, but against our neighbors, our brothers, and our friends. On top of it we often choose the worst in them to compare to the best in us.
God's perspective of me is very clear: "a poor miserable sinner." When was the last time you said those words in church and really meant them? When we remember this we see just how joyful the news of the angels truly is. When we have a correct mental image of ourselves, we find out just how refreshing and glorious the Love of God is, and we learn to rely on Him, not ourselves.
Change Your Perspective: See Your Condition From God's Perspective
