Wonderful or Disgusting?

READ: PSALM 103:12; EPHESIANS 2:8-10; 1 JOHN 1:8–2:1; 3:1-2

Sometimes I hate myself. I look at the people around me and wonder how they look so put together, so beautiful, so confident. My jeans don’t fit right, and my jacket is warm instead of trendy. I feel unremarkable and worthless. I want to disappear into the wall.

But sometimes I love myself. My hair looks great today, and that shirt I found at the thrift shop works perfectly with this outfit. I even made a grumpy person smile. I feel awesome.

Sometimes I hate myself. Once again, I sinned in the same way that always comes back to tempt me. I should be able to resist it by now, and yet, when the temptation came knocking in the same sweet way I know so well, I gave in. I feel like a total failure.

But sometimes I love myself. My friend says, “You are so good at using your spiritual gifts! We love your ministry at church.” Pride fills me up like a tall glass of lemonade, and pride is what splashes out when I move. I feel fantastic.

Then I stop. Is it true that I am a wonderful child of God, created in His image and indwelt by His Holy Spirit? Yes. Is it also true that I am full of sin and failure? Yes! I puzzle for a while: How am I supposed to think of myself? Am I good or bad? Wonderful or disgusting?

I remember. There is someone far more beautiful, completely without sin, who loves me more than words can say. He is eternal, omnipotent, infinitely creative, and never gives up. In His love for me, He died on the cross for my sins, and He is making me like Him—free from sin. No matter what I do or how I feel, my identity and worth are found in Jesus. • Amy Glendinning

• Humans seesaw so quickly between pride and shame. But Jesus reveals who we truly are. We were created in God’s image, and we were created good. Yet ever since the first humans sinned, we’re all born sinful, so we all sin daily. In the words of Paul, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25). Though we were sinners, God still loved us! And through Jesus, He made the way for us to be forgiven, made new, and adopted into His family. Today, if we’ve put our trust in Jesus, we live in the “already-and-not-yet” of His transforming work. We’ll struggle with sin until Jesus returns and finishes the work He started (Philippians 1:6), yet we’re already blameless in God’s sight. How can this affect the way we think about ourselves?

We are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 1 John 3:2 (NLT)