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2 Corinthians 3:7-18
The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image (v.18).
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This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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How do you view yourself? How does God view you?
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I love the beginning of the film Les Miserables. The peasant Jean Valjean has just been released from prison after 19 years of hard labor. His crime? Stealing a loaf of bread. Cold, starving, and broke, Valjean enters a small village where a local bishop gives him a meal and lodging. During the night, however, he steals the bishop’s silverware and flees with the goods. He’s caught the next day, but the bishop saves him by claiming the stolen silver was a “gift.”
Just prior to sending Jean Valjean off with even more silver than he stole, the bishop looks him straight in the eye and says: “Don’t ever forget. You’ve promised to become a new man. . . . Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver I have bought your soul. I have ransomed you from fear and hatred. And now, I give you back to God.”
We can’t live outside of the way we see ourselves, just as Jean Valjean could not. Years of prison taught him to see himself as nothing more than a dangerous convict. And that’s how he lived his life. But when confronted with how God truly viewed him in grace, it completely changed the way he saw himself. The rest of the film presents how Valjean became a powerful force for good in his world.
So what has life told you about yourself? Failure, loser, ugly, unwanted, unforgivable, weak-whatever it is-it’s crucial to know how God sees you.
Under the new covenant in Jesus, we are glorious image bearers of Christ who are in the process of becoming more and more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18). Jesus, may the truth of these words sink deep into our hearts and set us free to live new lives in Christ!
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Perhaps the more we know who we are, the easier forgiveness becomes to those who have taken from us. Jesus was absolutely certain of His purpose and identity–and absolutely ready to forgive.
I think …for me…it’s about knowing I am worth
forgiving. Sometimes I know in my head God
will, and does, forgive…but I cannot receive His
forgiveness because I cannot forgive myself. Only
when I truly see myself…in any situation…as He
sees me do I begin to understand the love He has
for me and out of that love flows forgiveness