Throw off the Image Others Placed on You

Loser! Untalented! Dumb! Hot Head! Fearful. 

These are words that describe some of the images people place on others. I believe each of those have been placed on me at some point in my life and the sad thing is I believed the people who placed them on me. I wore those images for most of my life and every now and then one of them pokes its ugly head out and tries to attach itself to me again.

Some of you see one of those images each time you look in the mirror or in given circumstances you hear the same words from someone although they may be spoken slightly differently today. With this post I want to point out to you that once you accepted Jesus as your Christ and Lord of your life you do not have to allow what other people have or are placing on you to be your image.

 2 Corinthians 5: 16-20 Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

1 Corinthians 12: 27-30 (The Message) 27-31 You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything. You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, organizers, those who pray in tongues. But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts.

2 Timothy 1: 5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. 

Once you have accepted Jesus as your savior, received the Holy Spirit and made Christ the Lord of your life you are no longer the person you use to be. You no longer have to accept the lies others have told you and you no longer have to live wearing the image they have placed on you.

I recently had the old image that others placed on me surface. It poked its ugly head out and tried to attached itself to me again. I had a good pastor friend who loved me enough to point out that a root of harshness and unkindness was showing. He loved me enough to speak into my life but the key was he knew I would accept his words and take action.

If you are struggling with wearing the negative images that others placed on you I encourage you to ask God to have a person come along side of you to encourage you and help you move forward in victory. Victory will come when you surrender those ugly and untrue images to the rule of Jesus and the Holy Spirit will reveal to you the new image you have in Christ. 

If you walk in fear throw it off and walk in the confidence that God loves you. If you see a loser when you look in the mirror change mirrors and look into one through the eyes of God for He sees you as His child.  If you feel you lack talent read 1 Corinthians 12 again and work to discover the Spiritual Gift that the Holy Spirit has given to you for service. If you are a person who gets angry easily read Galatians 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Realize you do not have to be angry. 

As a follower of Jesus Christ you are a Winner! You have Spiritual Talents! You have the Wisdom that comes from the Bible! You can give Grace to others! You can live in Courage!