Our Skewed Opinions

May 24

Let us believe neither half of the good people tell us of ourselves, nor half of the evil they say of others. J. Petit Senn

If Senn even begins to approximate the veracity of the words people speak regarding our observations of ourselves or others, our opinions are of little value. We certainly shouldn't base our selection of friends upon what we hear about them and we definitely shouldn't base our estimation of ourselves upon the regard or lack there-of we hear expressed.

It is certain that we care very much about how we are perceived by others; we want to know how they esteem us. We make it our business to find out their thoughts regarding us. We hear it from them directly at times; we certainly attend to second-hand information about us as told by third parties. We even have official means of assessing our worth, such as 'performance evaluations' from employers, but by no means should we build our self-esteem upon any of them.

There is just One Whose thoughts regarding us should be of value to us, and that One is Jesus. Of Him we are told--by the Word of God that is true and unshakable--that He loves us. We are told that for our sakes He left the realm of glory in which He dwelt eternally with the Father in order that He might give us the free gift of eternal salvation, Philippians 2:6.

The One who spoke and the worlds were formed allowed Himself to become one of us so all of us who would receive His free gift might become heirs of salvation. In II Corinthians 8:9 we are told, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

This one act, established from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), speaks volumes to us of who men are and of who we are. This one fact of time anchors us to a marvelous hope that transcends time and encompasses eternity. This one transformative reality establishes who people are--who we are, who I am, who you are—forever! It is settled in the heart of God, therefore it is a reality that is unshakable. Man—me, us, you, all of us—are heirs with Christ of an everlasting reign (II Timothy 2:12) that cannot be undone by anyone's opinion but our own!

What people think of us is of no consequence to us because men are liars who are not only endeavoring to deceive us about who we are but are self-deceived about who they are. It is not until we grasp who we are in Christ that we see people, life, time, self as we really are. Until we see as He sees, we actually see nothing and know nothing, for all we think we see and all we think we know is skewed by our distorted perception. When we see with His eyes, we see all things—including ourselves—in truth.

And that truth reveals to us that we are worthy in the eyes of God of the most valuable sacrifice that has ever been made—the life of Jesus, given in exchange for our lives. If HE thinks we are worth that, shouldn't we allow ourselves to esteem our brothers and ourselves highly? Shouldn't we allow ourselves to hold in high regard, those for whom Jesus laid down His life? The answer is obvious—yes, we must!

And if HE LOVES US, shouldn't we love ourselves and allow our perception of ourselves to rise to meet His own? Yes, we, should!