Title Let's change our self-image.
Contents
Let's change our self-image.
Numbers 13:30-33
The first book, [Laws of Success], written by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, explains why people do not succeed in dieting from a unique perspective. In a word, it is because they have failed to change their 'self image'. will be Self-image refers to how you think of yourself, and the image you have in your mind.
Most fat people have the idea that they are fat in their minds.
So, while on a diet, I am not sure if I am going to become thin. Then, if you loosen up a little bit and become lazy, you say, “Do this until today, and work hard from tomorrow!” and back off and fail.
Such people cannot succeed on a diet without changing their self-image.
That's right. Self-image is key. Your life is determined by what kind of self-image you have.
People who live with a negative self-image cannot lead a successful life.
Conversely, people who live with a positive self-image can lead successful lives.
We are trapped in a negative self-image, and we are caught up in it even though we can get out of it. We can live a better life, but we are living like we used to. Because I couldn't change my self-image.
negative self-image
Even in the Bible, there are several people who have not lived a successful life because of their negative self-image.
Let's take a look at two typical negative self-images.
First of all, it is “the grasshopper self-image.”
In verses 32-33, we read, “He spoke badly about the land that we spyed out before the children of Israel, saying, “The land we went through spying out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there were of great stature; We saw giants, and we ourselves looked like grasshoppers, and we must have looked like them.” 12 spies representing the people of Israel spyed out every corner of the land of Canaan for 40 days. This is the report of 10 of them.
Comparing them with them, hearing this report that they are like grasshoppers, the Israelites have a negative self-image in their minds, which is the “locust self-image.”
Numbers 14:1 tells us that the Israelites cried out with a loud voice and wept all night long.
“How will you deal with the enemy? What strategies do you have and how do you prepare?” It is said that when it was necessary to gather wisdom, the enemy was afraid and only trembled and wept.
This self-image of grasshoppers is a self-image that keeps getting smaller and smaller, and makes you avoid and back down when you have to face it confidently and courageously. Negative self-image.
None of those who had this negative self-image could enter the land of Canaan and all died in the wilderness.
That's right. You have to let go of your negative self-image. We need to get rid of this negative self-image.
Only then can you live a successful life and be used preciously by God.
Next is the “worm self-image”.
Job 25:4-6 says, “How then can a man be justified before God, and how can a man born of a woman be clean? Behold, if the moon does not shine in his eyes and the stars do not shine, how much more are a man like a maggot, a man like a worm?” These are the words of Bildad the Shuaite, a friend of , who gave advice to Job.
Almighty God, this is a metaphor to emphasize the fact that we humans are really insignificant before a holy God. “We humans are like maggots, and our lives are like worms.”
In a way, these words are humble before God, and furthermore, they seem to have good faith.
But it is a matter of misunderstanding God.
Obviously, God is a God of justice, a God who disciplines and judges us when we sin. He is a God of justice and a God of love who thoroughly examines us.
Although we are sinful and sinful beings, He loves us.
He loves us, sending his only begotten Son into this world to die on that cross.
Here, the self-image of the worm is seen only by the God of justice. That is why they fear God and try to avoid and hide.
I dare not go to God. Therefore, we cannot add on to the power of God.
You cannot enjoy the grace and peace that God gives you.
So we need to get rid of the insect self-image. We need to get rid of this negative self-image.
Only then can you lead a successful life of faith and do great things for God.
To change your negative self-image
Genesis 17:5 says, “Your name will no longer be called Abram, but will be called Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations.” God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. The word Abram means noble father, and it means the father of a family or a family.
By the way, the word Abraham means the father of a multitude, and it means the father of many nations or nations.
Abraham had a new self-image because God changed his name.
I came to live thinking, “I am not only the father of this family, but also the father of many nations in the future.”
This change of self-image changed his life.
That's right. God wants us to change our self-image today. He wants you to let go of your negative self-image and have a positive self-image. So what can we do to change our negative self-image?
First, you must realize.
In order to change our negative self-image, we need to have a clear understanding of who we are, especially how God thinks of us.
First of all, in Romans 5:8, it says: “God demonstrates his love for us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In the eyes of God, they were poor beings.
The other is, however, that we are precious in the sight of God, so they are so valuable that He sent His Son to die in His place.
Furthermore, according to Ephesians 1:5, “He predestined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to his good pleasure.” Now, God has made us sons, and the moment you and I believe in Jesus Christ, we are already adopted children of God. that it has become
We can see ourselves like grasshoppers in the world and we can see ourselves like worms before God, which is the negative self-image we had in the past.
But now that we are children of God, even if people make fun of us as grasshoppers, we are children of God, and even if Satan mocks us as worms, we are children of God.
If you go to the Vatican in Rome, there is a work called Pieta sculpted by Michelangelo. It is a sculpture of the moment when Jesus was in the lap of his mother Mary after he died on the cross. There is an anecdote related to this work.
Michelangelo found a large marble in a marble shop.
The owner occupied the place without being sold for 10 years, so he gave it to Michelangelo.
Michelangelo polished this marble for a year to complete the work.
After completing the work, the owner of the marble shop was invited. This man was startled. And I asked.
“How were you able to create something like this? ' replied Michelangelo.
“I saw Jesus in this marble, and I just scraped off what was unnecessary,” he said.
We may look like useless marble, but we have a beautiful self-image that we have to find.
Second, we must live as we are.
In order to get rid of our negative self-image, we need to live with the positive self-image we have realized.
Judges 3:15 says, “The children of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera the Benjaminite, left-handed, when the children of Israel offered tribute to Eglon king of Moab through him. When the people were persecuted by Moab, he appointed a judge named Ehud to protect the people of Israel.
It should be noted here that God's judge, Ehud, was left-handed.
So Ehud was a man with a disability in his right hand, so he had no choice but to use his left hand.
And Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin. His name means son of the right hand.
So, it can be seen that the people of the tribe of Benjamin were especially good with their right hand.
Ehud was a man from a tribe who used his right hand well and had a disability in his right hand. So he must have grown up with a negative self-image from an early age. The grasshopper self-image and the worm self-image were probably his self-images.
But God made him a judge. His self-image changed when he was taken into the hands of God, who he thought was useless. “God has appointed me as a judge!” He developed a positive self-image.
And he will lead Israel in peace as a judge for 80 years.
That's it. If we have a positive self-image, we have to live as it is, so we need to accumulate experiences that make the positive self-image come true.
Then, the positive self-image is not just a picture of your mind, but is actually established as your self-image.
There was a prince in Persia who was born with a humpback, and on his twelfth birthday, his father asked him to say one thing, saying he would give him anything he wanted as a gift. The prince asked to make a statue of himself.
I wanted a statue that was full, straight and well-stretched, not just the way it is.
By order of the king, a statue was erected in the palace gardens. At the beginning of each day and before going to bed, the prince stood in front of the statue and said: “This is me. I will grow up like this. I will look like this to others.” The dream became a self-image. Every night he lay straight on the bed. He walked upright every day. As he grew older, his figure gradually became that of a statue.
That's right. If you have a positive self-image, you have to live with it. Then it will gradually become that way.
Dear all! What self-image do you have? If you have a negative self-image, you need to get out of it quickly. Build a positive self-image. In order to do that, we must understand through the Word.
And I must live as it is and make it mine.