Remember the movie True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis? Having no idea her husband is actually a superspy, Helen (Curtis) thinks she’s married to a dull salesman. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, she’s leading a bit of a double life herself.
What we see and who we are don’t always line up.
I don’t see myself as a particularly brave person, but when I was telling some of my more powerful dreams to a friend recently she observed, “You are always the hero in your dreams.”
Come to think of it, I had stuck my fist in the mouth of a lion, pushed a darkly clad pursuer down the stairs, and most recently declared to man about to assassinate me, “Go ahead, I’m going to stare right into the face of heaven,” as I jutted my chin and fixed my face upward.
Well now, I’d like to know this nocturnal person better. By day she agonizes over words she writes, things she says, and actions she fails to perform to help another.
Years ago my husband framed the above picture of the lion and the kitty (a card by Alan Wnuk, Portal Publications) and kept it on his desk. I used it as a story starter with my students. Some thought the kitty prideful; some thought him wistful, and some thought he was seeing who he was going to be.
I like to think he was getting a glimpse of who he really was.
I often feel like the kitty, but the Bible has lots to say about who I really am. Maybe I need to start believing it. Start getting to know this double agent in my dreams.
Or, like my dear one who looks in the mirror and sees a fat person when in fact, she is thin. She works hard to replace the image, to see as she really is. To see the TRUE in place of the LIES.
How about you? What reflection are you seeing?
The following partial list is from Joyce Myers Ministries about the face we need to see in the mirror;
I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
I am far from oppression, and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14).
I am holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:16).
I am God’s child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23).
I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I am a spirit being alive to God (Romans 6:11;1 Thessalonians 5:23).
I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind (2 Corinthians 4:4).
I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions (James 1:22,25).
I am a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).
I am more than a conqueror through Him Who loves me (Romans 8:37).
I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11).
I am a partaker of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).
I am an ambassador for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).
I am part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (1 Peter 2:9).
I am strengthened with all might according to His glorious power (Colossians 1:11).
I am submitted to God, and the devil flees from me because I resist him in the Name of Jesus (James 4:7).
Praying with you my friend to burst through the lies, to glimpse the true reflection in the mirror.
I love the picture at the top Marcia. But, in all seriousness, you couldn't be more right. We often have a skewed perspective of who we are. We need to go back to the Word and remind ourselves of who GOD says we are. After all, He made us, so His view of us is the Truth.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I don't know why we prefer the lies we often tell ourselves.Love his reminders.
DeleteI am printing a copy of Joyce's list first thing tomorrow morning. Thank you for sharing, Marcia. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI always see a poor, pale creature of flesh and time, of no real consequence, small and insignificant; this is what I saw when I was an atheist and from that ideological position it was depressing. Yet when I became a Christian the same sense of my own insignificance and frailty made perfect sense when compared to God. What made me unhappy as an atheist brought me closer to God when I became a Christian. I revel in my own weakness, limited time and ageing body because I know that my purpose is to worship and serve one greater. When I look in the mirror now I see a servant, a lowly and not very good servant, but one serving the most powerful master there is, whom himself looked in the mirror and saw a servant too.
ReplyDelete