Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Here at Hope Dwellers, my heart is to help you in seeing yourself as God sees you.  Does that encourage you, or does it maybe make you feel a little nervous?

As Christian women, I think we struggle to see ourselves in a positive light.  We really want to please God and do what’s right, yet we are keenly aware of where we fall short.

Depending on your church background and the teaching you sat under in the past, you might even have a picture of God as an angry old man who is always disappointed with you.

For much of my adult life, the Bible verse I disliked the most was this one:

Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!                            Psalm 139:23    ESV

I just didn’t want God to search me and know me!  My heart was a mess, and I constantly felt like I failed Him.  The way He saw me was more than I felt like I could bear.

But you see, the problem was that I didn’t really know God.  When I actually started to get to know Him, I realized the way He really sees me is so very different from what I had believed.  (You can go here to read more about knowing God.)

As I am continuing to learn how He really looks at me, I am also, in the process, beginning to understand myself more.  His perspective of me is what gives me my real identity.

And my heart and mind are no longer filled with the tortured focus of being unacceptable and deserving of shame.  Instead, praise and worship now come easily because the way He sees me is more than I could ever have imagined or expected!

I want you to have this deep assurance, too, in seeing yourself as God sees you.  Let’s look at His perspective from 3 aspects – as Creator, as Father, and as Redeemer.

He Sees You From the Perspective of a Creator

An inventor definitely has an end product in mind when he comes up with the idea for a design for his new invention.  Artists certainly have a vision for the appearance and meaning of their creations.

And even you, when you create something as simple as making a dish for supper – you know every ingredient and every technique for making that dish all you want it to be.

How much more does God know you?  Ephesians 1 tells us that He chose us before the foundation of the world.  What does this mean?

I heard one pastor explain it this way:

You were an idea in God’s mind before He even created the world.

He knows everything about you because you are His artwork. He saw you in His mind before you were even conceived, and He designed everything that would make you uniquely you – your desires, your interests, your purpose, your unique perspective on life and so much more.

Just think of it this way:  the same God who had a vision to create the snow-covered French Alps and the clear turquoise waters of the Mediterranean sea and the rolling green farmlands of Pennsylvania and the mighty expanse of the Grand Canyon – that same God wanted to create you, too.

He thought the world needed you – His unique, creative work of art that would display His incredible ability to bring a vision to life.

He Sees You From the Perspective of a Father

Thankfully, God didn’t stop His involvement with you when you were born.  He is not an aloof, distant, dictatorial slave-driver that sits in Heaven apart from you and your life.

No, He is the God who is near! His heart longs to be in relationship with you because He sees you as His child.

I realize that the picture of God as Father, seeing you through the lens of being His child, may not be an easy one for you to grasp if your earthly father was not the best role model.

If you had a loving and engaged father growing up, then you can truly relate to this concept.  But if your father was less than ideal, try to paint a picture in your mind of what the man who wins “Father of the Year” would look like to you.

Allow yourself to think of every positive thing you can think of, every thing a little girl would long for from her daddy.

I promise you that God is far better than anything you could list.  He truly is a good, good Father.

Here’s how I see Him with my list of “daddy traits”:

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

• A good Father is always on your side.  He longs to speak into your life to affirm you and give you a solid assurance of who you are and whose you are.
• A good Father cheers you on when you are giving it your very best, and you make it!  But He is also there to lift you up when you fall flat on your face.   He is kind enough to show you what you are missing, so that you can get up and try again until you overcome.  He wants you to succeed!
• A good Father is committed to your welfare.  He is willing to go to any lengths to make sure you have everything you need, not just to survive, but to thrive.  He wants you to prosper in every way.
• A good Father loves you like no one else.  His love is not dependent on your performance or even on the love you have for Him.  He loves you because that’s just who He is.

Oh, when you really grab hold of this truth that He sees you as His child, it will change your life!

He Sees you From the Perspective of a Redeemer

At this point, you might be whispering under your breath, “Well, that’s all nice for her, but she doesn’t know me and what I’m like.  God just couldn’t possibly see me this way.”

Friend, let me remind you of the gospel!!!!

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  2 Cor. 5:17

This is the good news – we are new creations!  This means we now actually have the incredible chance to live up to our full potential to be who God designed us to be!

Jesus died on the cross as our Redeemer so that He could give us His righteousness.  We have talked about this here, but having the righteousness of Jesus means that as believers, we are now redeemed and made as we ought to be. 

 In other words, Jesus has dealt with all our sin – all the ways that we messed up God’s beautiful, original design of us – so that now we can be what God envisioned for us all along.

For years and years, I hung on to the lies that kept me wrapped up in feelings of failure.   I couldn’t see myself as a beautiful design, as God’s artwork.  That just seemed ridiculous.

How about you?  Have you ever felt like God was hovering over you with His finger pointing at you in disgust that you’ve blown it again?  Saying “when will you ever get it?”

Let me fill you in on a little secret…that’s not God.  That is our enemy talking to you.  How do you know?

Because of the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus, God will only speak to you in the positive.

Your sin has been paid for.  God is not angry with you.  God is all about lifting you up, encouraging you, edifying you, and cheering you on.  Oh, how life-giving this truth really is!!!

Even if He needs to correct you about something or convict you of sin, it’s so that you can be rid of all that causes pain and loss to you and those around you.

God is for you!!!  He is on your side!!!  He truly is committed to your good.

Because of Jesus, we are now free to grab hold of this new vision of who God created us to be, the original vision that God had for us all along.

As a beautiful work in progress, the end result is that He is making us to be more like Jesus.  And that’s about as beautiful as we can be, isn’t it?

The Bible is full of verses that tell us we were created to glorify God.  Are you beginning to see why?  Our God is so incredible!  To know – really know- how He sees you as your Creator/Designer, your good, good Father, and your wonderful Redeemer – this can change your life.

Knowing His perspective of us is both incredibly humbling and, at the same time, is empowering and encouraging and motivating.

So here now is the big challenge…If God sees you with these 3 incredible perspectives, can you begin seeing yourself as He sees you?

Are you willing to let go of the lies, the crazy things you tell yourself about yourself, and choose to see yourself as God does?  I truly hope so!

Choosing to see through God’s eyes,

Trish

In the comments below,  let’s fill up the space with praises for our incredible God.  Share with us something that has changed your life because of knowing how God sees you.  And if you are really struggling to believe all of this for yourself, share that, too.  We all need reminding of the truth.  We want to help and encourage each other.

Do you feel like you need a visual reminder of the truth of of how God sees you?  Sign up below to get access to our free printable: What Makes God a Good Father?  5 Reminders of How He Sees You as His Child.  You’ll get access to this plus all our other freebies in our Hope Dwellers Resource Library.

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