As a ninth grader I looked forward to high school. I was auditioning for the High School choir, which was one of the best in the state. My sister was already in the choir – you need to know that she was a 4.0 student and had gained high respect for her academic work. Her reputation had preceded me. So the choir director looked at me and asked, “Are you Shirley’s brother?” “Yes I am,” I responded. “Are you as smart as she is?” he continued. “No!” I replied. “I didn’t think so,” he said. “You don’t look it!” It’s a good thing my image wasn’t bound up with my sister’s! As has been said, “The most important opinion you’ll ever have is the opinion you have of yourself.”
Image is extremely important to our self-esteem; how we see ourselves determines how we act. Consider the great Oliver Wendell Holmes; he was only five feet tall and was often asked how it felt to be so small. His response was classic: “I feel like a dime in a group of nickels.” That’s a great self-image! And in our multi-media culture, there is no shortage of images to choose from. Our youth, especially, are bombarded with a constant stream of both overt and subtle messages about what’s supposedly important to their image. Wanting to fit in, not wanting to be bullied for being different, youth are vulnerable. The result is mass confusion, emotional instability, and in extreme cases, psychological depression. And I’m not so sure it’s much different for us adults.
So where should our image come from? “When it’s all about image, remember your image.” “God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female… God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!” (Gen. 1:27 & 2:7 MSG). Our identity comes from God – we have a chip of God’s DNA within us. “When it’s all about image, remember your image.” We have divine roots, a God-given dignity, and a holy destiny. Nothing can change it. We can forget it, to our shame; remember Adam and eve? We can ignore it, to our peril; “People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us.” (Rom. 1:18-25 MSG). Or we can remember our identity: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior .I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me.You are honored, and I love you.” (Is. 43:1-4 NLT). The reality is, Jesus was given in exchange for us; “His life was traded for ours. For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” (2 Cor. 5:21 TLB) “When it’s all about image, remember your image.”
This week, no matter what our culture, or other people, say, may you remember who you are!
“When it’s all about image, remember your image.”