Wo/Man in the Mirror

Having a right understanding of yourself is a crucial factor in determining how you will treat the rest of the relationships in your life. In looking at the man in the mirror, Louie Giglio shows us that knowing your worth in Christ is the key to feeling fulfilled within yourself.

God wants us to have great relationships in life, so it is essential to ask yourself if you are able to relate. Last week we asked if God was able to relate to you. This week we will ask if we can relate to ourselves.

Outside of your relationship with God, your relationship with yourself if the most important relationship.

You spend the most time with you, so you are the most influential person in your life. You hear your voice more than anyone else. How are you doing with you? The reality is that we are often better at loving others than we are at loving ourselves.

In Matthew 22:34-40, we see the centrality of our relationship with God. We love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength AND we love our neighbor as ourselves. God is assuming that if we love our neighbor then you love yourself. It's the essential value of His love for us that translates in our love for others.

This is not contradictory to Scripture saying that we humble ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves.

Jesus is saying the greatest commandment is to love ourselves so we can love our neighbor. All of that is a byproduct of what is coming out of our relationship where we're loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

The most push back would be in Romans 12:3 where it says to "not think of yourself more highly than you ought", but that's in the context of the Body of Christ. No one is more important than another in the Church.

The goal: To fall in love with yourself to the same degree and same way that God is in love with me. See yourself as God sees you. Value yourself the way God values you.

God wants you to love yourself well. He wants you to get to the point that you hear what God says and you see what He sees. Then, when you look in the mirror you can say what God says when God sees you.

What would God say if He looked at you in the mirror?

1) I love you.

2) I'm thankful for you.

3) You are a rare and beautiful treasure. There's no one like you.

4) I forgive you.

5) You are here for a special purpose.

6) I am going to hold you to a high standard, but extend mercy and grace to you in appropriate ways.

7) I believe in you and am cheering you on today.

Everyone has to look in the mirror and if any change is going to happen, it is going to have to start with you. Start talking to yourself and tell yourself what God says. The reflection that you are looking at is what God sees. Believe God.

We can get all of this harmful stuff out of our vocabulary, thoughts, and actions, but Proverbs 26:11 says like a dog returns to its vomit, as fool does the same foolish things again and again. Be careful to not return to the same harmful things. Get it out and keep it out.

How can you make this change?

• Attach yourself to the living Word of God
• See what God sees
• Say what God says

Matthew 22:40 says that all of the law (all the things of Moses) and the prophets (all the things to come) hangs on these two commandments, to love God and to love your neighbor.

What does that mean for us? It means there is a lot at stake. If you don't love and are not at peace with yourself because of what God has said about you, how can the world think they stand a chance of experiencing the same? The gospel hands in the balance of us believing what God has said about us is true.