Unstick the Lies -- Overcome With Graceنموونە

A Heavy Weight

Lose the lie:  “I’m not beautiful.”

When you look into the mirror what do you see?  Do you see wrinkles, worry lines, bags, and sags?  Or do you see the inner beauty of you?  Don’t we long to see more than what our reflection speaks back to us?   

As a chubby child with a boy haircut, words of beauty were few and far between.  Those “pretty” adjectives were reserved for other girls.  I believed true beauty was non-existent.  I only heard the silent lies I was telling myself.  

The labels and lies we attach to ourselves are destructive and dangerous.  Childhood is full of beauty lessons gone wrong and derailed attempts in finding our uniqueness.  We grow up thinking we must be like others and desire to fit in with the crowd.  Lies label our identities.

In the animal kingdom, it’s called a pecking order.  This is true for humans, too ... meaning we vie and wrestle for our positions and importance.  The mirror can lie to you because it’s an object meant to reflect a flat image.  When my mirror reflects the word “ugly,” I leave feeling unworthy. My eyes fall to my imperfect hips every time!  I even looked to my clothing tags for my approval.  The jeans I’m wearing now are way smaller than the ones I bought a couple of years ago but I’m still challenged to battle the “ugliness” the mirror sometimes reflects back at me.  

When the sly voice of the enemy reduces your value to something as shallow as a reflection or a size on a tag, we must remember we are more than a label to God!  Through my physical downsizing from a size 24 to a 4, I’ve been through a lot of transformation.  And the reflection I want is the one where Jesus gently cups my face with His hands and speaks these words to my heart:  “You’re beautiful my child, it’s My image you bear.” 

Gain God’s truth:  We are image-bearers who carry the scars of Jesus.  His shed blood made an indelible mark upon every believer’s life.  So say goodbye to the senseless fight with yourself.  Don’t think about your imperfections with contempt!  Thank God for your clothes and capture the moments of Jesus’ beautiful image who died to set you free from sin’s ugliness!  You’re the picture of beauty to Him!