Several years ago, I spoke with a young woman who was having trouble believing how valuable and precious she was. She, like so many, had an abusive past, which affected how she saw herself. As I listened to her, an image came to me that I truly believe was from the Lord.
I asked her to imagine a pile of gold in front of us. Someone could come along and spit on the gold, or call it ugly names, or walk all over it; but nothing or no one could change the fact that in its essence it is pure gold.
In the same way, no matter what we’ve been called, what we’ve done, or what’s been done to us, the truth is that we are far more precious than gold; in fact, to God the Father, we are worth the precious blood of His own Son. In Christ we are God’s Beloved.
These truths are probably not new to most of you. Intellectually, we may acknowledge these truths about ourselves, but how do we think of ourselves on a daily basis, and what is our self-talk like? Do we beat ourselves up mentally when we blow it? Do we put ourselves down or call ourselves names?
The renewing of our mind, or the realigning of our thoughts with God’s truth, must be an ongoing and daily process in which we take an active role.
We need to examine our core beliefs about ourselves and our self-talk, making sure they are in line with what is true about us from God’s perspective. Instead of stopping there, however, we need to continually renew our minds with these truths until we believe them deep down to our core. Of course, it is also important to surround ourselves with people who seek to see others with the eyes of Christ and love others with the heart of Christ.