ARE YOU SECURE WITH YOUR IMAGE?

By REVEREND TONY ZEKVELD

There is an excessive preoccupation with self-image. What do I look like? What will I look like before others? We want to “look” wealthy and good. We buy brand name clothing, a mansion and a car we can’t afford. It is about appearance, not what is real.

Making your own image: But deep down, we feel insecure about ourselves. We are trying to make an image that is not real. We want to look good on the outside. It’s a veneer, or you might say, a mask. And it is a slavery because it takes hard work to keep it up and to keep it going.

The “real” you, however, comes out into the open in relationships at home. It’s difficult, then, to let other people come into our lives in case they ‘discover’ things about us that are true. They may peel back the layers and discover the truth about us. Worse yet, they may spread it to our neighbours and friends to make us look ‘bad’. But they say ‘bad’ things about you to make themselves look ‘good’. It’s a vicious cycle.

Making your own image is a hard way to live and it needs to be broken. It’s not the real image.

We all need a new image: The truth is that our image is broken by sin. We are born broken. God made our first parents in His image, that is, in His likeness. He made us to reflect Him, His righteousness and holiness.

Sin corrupted His image in us. We are now broken on the ‘inside’. We simply can’t make ourselves good because we are not born good. That’s why we try to save our own image. But we cannot. The only thing we can do is try to make ourselves look good on the outside. But this can’t make us good.

Self-renovating a broken image is not possible, no matter how hard we try. We need a new image. God, in His love and grace, gives this new image through Jesus Christ. Jesus came into this world to die on the cross for broken people, to forgive sin and to give new life to all who believe in Him. This means that He came to make our image new in Him.

He is willing and able to fix us up, transforming us from the inside out to become like Him. This is good news for all who trust Him. Being remade in His image, gives us true security.