Promise Tewogbola
September 8, 2017
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In Christian circles, the term ‘self-image’ is often used with great caution. You might even be tempted to think that it’s a taboo word. It’s understandable that Christians feel a bit weird about the topic, since the Word of God clearly condemns placing all our attention and focus on ‘Self’
As Jesus said, ‘…if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me’ (Matthew 16:24). Unfortunately, a lot of people misunderstand what Jesus said, and as a result, they go the other extreme.
Christianity is not a religion, but a lifestyle.It’s not a doing, but a being. And believe me sincerely, you’d find it very difficult to BE a Christian if you have poor self-image!
Your self-image is simply how you see yourself. Depending on your choice, it could be positive, or negative, or somewhere caught up in the middle.
When Jesus was teaching His disciples about denying themselves, He wasn’t even talking about denying your self-image! How could He? Jesus Himself had a self-image! For heavens’ sake, Jesus Christ referred to Himself as the Son of God numerous times because that’s how He saw Himself!
When Jesus was talking about denying yourself, He was not referring to your self-image – He was referring to your sinful human nature! That’s why Apostle Paul would later say in Colossians 3:5 that you should ‘…mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…’ Paul wasn’t saying that we should cut off the parts of our bodies. Rather, he was telling us to deal with our sinful human natures!
The sinful human nature has absolutely nothing to do with your self-image! As I’ve said before, your self-image simply has to do with how we see ourselves. When the right self-image is in place, you’d realize that you need to choose to love yourself for who you are!
You need to choose to eliminate fear!
You need to destroy self-doubt!
You need to change your self-talk!
You need to choose your association wisely!
None of these things are evil, and it’s hard to understand why believers would prefer give the impression of piety and somberness by beating themselves up and allow self-condemnation to keep them in bondage to an ordinary, mediocre life.
If I was an unbeliever and you came to introduce Christ to me with your poor, beaten-up self-image, I would most definitely not accept Him into my life. As an unbeliever, I would be thinking thoughts like, ‘Why should I accept Jesus into my life when He can’t even take care of you’ or ‘I’d rather remain where I am than join you and become like you’
Little would I have thought that Jesus didn’t make you mediocre…your choices and ignorance did!
Christianity is an awesome and fun way to live in such a time as this. Unfortunately, many unbelievers would never get to know this because of the poor self-image of many Christians.
Reality check: If you had a chance of preaching the gospel to a wealthy aristocrat or a beggar that sleeps in a dump, who are you most likely going to preach to?
I can bet that the majority of you reading this would go for the poor guy because you do not think you’re good enough to talk to the rich guy. Am I saying that the rich guy’s soul is more expensive and valuable than his poor counterpart? No! All I’m saying is that if your self-image is in the right place, it won’t matter to you at all if you had to talk to the wealthy or to the poor. All you’d be interested in would be in sharing the gospel. Period!
As a Christian, you have a mandate from God to be a bright and shining light in this evil world full of evil and darkness. However, you would not be able to fulfill that mandate if you have no idea about your Self-image.
If unbelievers can harness the powers of a positive self-image and have powerful results in their lives, you can imagine what would happen when a Christian can understand his self-image and use it to his advantage.
Sky would be the very beginning!
Campus Students for Christ 