Having a Balanced God-Image of Ourselves
On the road to having a secure God-image of ourselves (notice I did not say self-image), it seems there is a pit to fall into on each side. On the one side we may think less of ourselves than we ought to, but on the other side, we may think more of ourselves than we ought to. We read about this struggle in Romans 12:3 New American Standard Bible (italics mine):
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Staying on the road to a secure God-image means having a balance. Here we learn that we are to have “sound judgment” as to ourselves. In other words, we are neither to be falsely humble nor too prideful. The word for sound G4993 means “to be of sound mind, to exercise self control, to put a moderate estimate upon one’s self soberly,” and comes from a root word G4998 which means “safe in mind.” Safe in mind- in your mind, you can go to a safe place as you think about yourself, to a balanced and healthy place. Personally, I am still working on my safe place for my God image. It takes self-control to have this safe place and also some hard work by renewing our minds. Some of us may not have had a good image of ourselves previously, whether due to what has been spoken over us by others or due to what we put into our mind or due to ourselves. And renewing our minds takes time in the Word, in prayer, and meditation.
In Colossians 2:18-19 NASB we are cautioned about one of the pits we can fall into, namely pride:
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
An inflated mind reminds me of the expression “he has a big head”. Yes, pride inflates our own image of ourselves. Pride inflates our own head instead of helping us to hold fast to THE HEAD, Jesus Christ. If we hold on to Jesus, our eyes are fixed on Him, and we get a true perspective of our position as image bearers of God but also as those who need Him. We respond like Peter, in Luke 6:68 NASB, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” We know we need Him, we hold onto Him as the Head, and we see ourselves rightly.
We can also fall into a pit on the other side which is false humility. False humility is devaluing ourselves or our gifts. This can either be from having a very poor God-image of ourselves or it can be pride in disguise by trying to get negative attention. Instead of false humility, we need true humility. Just as Christ did, we need to humble ourselves, while holding on to our true identity and value as bearers of God’s image. In 1 Peter 5:6 NASB, we see real humility:
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time
and again in one of my favorite Bible verses Micah 6:8 NASB:
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
With true humility, we humble ourselves, and if God wants to exalt us, He will. Until that time that God chooses to exalt us, we are content to serve Him and to serve others as He leads. Even if He exalts us, we do not boast in anything but God. We see in Luke 17:7-10 NASB a picture of a right heart attitude:
Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’
Yes, we are His servants. We obey Him; we do His will; we serve Him in the way He asks us to. And when we have done ALL- yes, everything, ever last thing that He asks us to do- we still must say, “We are His servants and have only done what He asked us to.” There is no room for pride, only for humility, only room to reflect the praise back to God who enabled us to do all He called us to do. We see how Paul pointed praise back to God in 1 Corinthians 15:10 NASB:
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Pride takes the credit unto ourselves, while false humility degrades ourselves. In the middle, is the healthy God-image that says, “I have value as God’s image bearer, and anything I do as His servant, I do because He gives me the power and strength to do it.”
So mom’s, let’s avoid pride and false humility and instead,
HAVE SOUND JUDGMENT AS HIS DAUGHTERS, HIS HIGHLY VALUED IMAGE BEARERS.
In His Love,
Suzanne
Mom Morsels 