Mirror

I combed my hair (what's left of it) the other day, while looking in the mirror. It dawned on me as it had done so before that what I see in the mirror is not what others see. In fact, when I see a picture of me, I never think it looks much like me. Come to think of it, others don't see the "real" me either. I am more than my looks and actions.

We base much of our life and judgments on peoples' externals. God sees me and you from a whole different vantage point. God has no false expectations, no puffed up images and no self-serving needs of us. God's plan for us is to be the genuine article, the real me. And only God can inform us who that might be.

What God sees is not my looks or adventures or accomplishments but my essence; the real me.

After all, God formed me. I was God's idea.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; Jeremiah 1:5a (NIV)

I'm pretty darn neat, too.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

And, I am a chip off the old block, made in God's image.

 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug.

Isaiah 51:1 (NASB)

I look to God in order to understand myself.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

My destiny is to reflect God in my own unique way.

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jeremiah 31:34 (NIV)

Look beyond externals today. Invest in yourself and in others. See the real person and help call it out.