Precious in His Sight - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Part 1

I would ask you to describe yourself, what would you say would you tell me how you look for maybe list your accomplishments. Or maybe give me a profile of your personality. Or perhaps you define yourself by your shortcomings and failures are flaws in just a minute will begin a series, my wife Teresa will help you realize your true worth how God actually is. Don't go welcome to this additional Living on the Edge with the mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disable Christian Bible to really have is to just mention the series is turn the mic over to his wife, Teresa precious in his sight. These challenging times living on the perspective of the issues were facing mission Christians to live like Christians remains the same whether it's through trips, words, or the occasional guest teacher. So we pray you will be blessed by what you share with all that said, let's join Teresa. Now she kicks off the series with her message mirror mirror on the wall and around someone just cannot complement a friend like that. He tried to her about about her whether about her appearance or something she was doing off of her, like a rubber ball bouncing off the wall. She can receive the compliments I was giving her some kind of excuse that would come back to me like if I would say all pre-and she would only say all missile she cannot receive the complement or I would tell her only creature on that project got really used it and she would come back and say anyone could have done it. That was not anything special, and she couldn't receive the compliments that I had and think it's me lots of compliments and he really loves me and he said to me many times, he said no. The most beautiful woman in the whole world and my immediate response. Many times the hand is all laid because I would not receive the complement that he wanted me and now I now that I'm not the most beautiful woman in the whole world that you know my husband's eyes and to hear he's expressing what he feels about me in his life for me and he's expressing what he sees and what I need to do what I'm trying to learn to do is to responding fullness to that received the compliments that he gives me just say thank you, Frankie. I'm glad you feel that way me accountable you have invited that the next time anyway might think is imperfect eyes, and I give my friends compliments the imperfect eyes. But there's one who looks at each of us with perfect eyes, and he sees us for who we truly are, inside and out, and he knows it's completely and he knows us intimately. He knows all about our lives and he the one he sees as perfectly as the Lord Jesus Christ and in his word in the Bible.

He tells us, are any tells us how he sees us and he says good things about us how he views as to view ourselves and his desire for us is to just say thank you thank you Lord Jesus that this is how you see me and and this is who I truly am and then for us to live out our lives based on who you truly are on who God says we are well we all have a self image. Beltway we all view ourselves in a certain way will have a mental picture of who we are Every area of our lives. It time it impacts how we relate to others, and it will affect the decisions that we make in life it will affect how we relate to God and there are few women here tonight.

I know who who probably had a really really positive self-image really like yourself you like who you are but I know because I've been around women for a long long time that there is any many of you here tonight who don't like who you are who don't like the person that you see and and then there's probably a few in between. You like some things about you and not others that what God wants us to learn this weekend, especially his.

He wants us to have a healthy self-image and that is that we would see ourselves as God sees that we would view ourselves the way God sees us no more and no less. And it's not thinking poorly of ourselves, and neither is it thinking that on God's gift to mankind. You know it's an identity that is based on who God says I can and God wants us to be able to see ourselves through his perfect eyes and his perfect ice as that you are precious in his sight and were not.

He doesn't want us to look through at ourselves to the imperfect eyes of the world. The system that distorts the image of who we are.

But God says to you that you are one-of-a-kind that you are you uniquely created in your deeply loved by him, and that your life has great significance has meaning and purpose because you were created in the image of God. We were created to reflect him in the way they live, and so this weekend. What were going to do is look at some important spiritual truths that tell us who we really are. Who God says we are, and that when he looks at you and me and he looks at all of his children that this is what he pays his seven year your little notebook there. He returned to the first session and it's called mirror mirror on the wall so when you look like a reflection in the mirror of yourself you say what you CDC a beautiful one. Diesel please about the reflection that comes back stairs back into do you always find an imperfection.

He always find something you need to be changed or removed, or maybe you don't want to look at yourself in the mirror at all because it reminds you of all the things need to be changed.

Or maybe you're one of those who spends lots of time in front of the mirror trying those things and our culture says that we are trying to find our acceptance in the way we see ourselves that we look in the mirror that that defines who we are. James Dobson has written a wonderful book called Hyder's sake, and so wonderful. But it tells about how you can help your child develop a healthy self image and how to build confidence in your child. Anything that will keep as that the most highly valued personal attribute in our culture is physical attractiveness is the most highly valued attribute physical and personal attribute is physical attractiveness and that's how our bodies look on the outside and how we look on the outside is more valued than character is more valued than that, honesty or kindness or diligence, and we live in a culture in our country that is obsessed success with our bodies we can grow old gracefully anymore. We have to have buns of steel every told we can find beauty in a jar and using the PL and the TV that the ident media magazine and all the advertisements are just bombarding us every day telling us that were not good enough. The way we are and were constantly reminded of all of our physical imperfections.

There's a book came out a few years ago called beauty beauty and the best and Deborah Evans writes in her book.

According to today's image call time to be as pretty as possible.

If I hope to assist succeed professionally or sexually.

In today's world.

My nails are to have no chips, cracks or ridges.

My lips must never be chapter 2 pale my complexion is to be as it looks great, less graceless and pitiless as possible with the wrinkles across the unsightly hair dry spot was freckles and bylines kept an absolute minimum.

Like teams must not be yellow or crooked or uneven.

My hair should be cut to complement my facial structure and condition to shine down squirrel not get frizzy and match widely publicized dimensions for its height and size. While strictly controlled at all times, especially in regards to eating and exercising and onto passionately dislike any flab or cellulite in my body so much that I'm willing to cut or starve myself to get rid of it. Once I bought into this idea of beauty. There are countless products and services available to help me attain it. Thanks to today's multibillion-dollar beauty industry. The problem is I never seem to be able to obtain the image they're selling me and we can get so caught up and placing our focus on what needs to change, of the improved in our bodies that we forget to be thankful for the good qualities that we do have, and I think it's just a part of our human nature, especially as women to walk into the group then. Unlike a group like tonight look around and see how everybody's dressed and how everybody looks angry pull out this little tape measure in our minds when they were even aware that it's there or not and we measure ourselves when we fit and are not whether I look good or bad by how others look we compare ourselves with others we decide whether were acceptable by or not by comparing ourselves with what the world says is beautiful and by comparing ourselves with other people.

Well that's pretty sad when you think about it that we have to go through all of that but so tonight that what our culture says about our physical appearance and about beauty over on the shelf for a while tonight was here from God. Let's hear what he has to say about our appearance and when God looks at you and when he looks at me.

This is why he's days and God says that this is true about your appearance and the first thing is is is my physical appearance in my unchangeable aspects is beautiful in God's sight because he is my designer maker. You are beautiful in his site and secondly he says my value as a person might donate more than significance is not determined by my outward appearance is not determined on the outward appearance in the first description of man and woman and how they were created and in the book of Genesis. Genesis 1. Interesting to note that in the creation of mankind. When God made Adam and Eve that the physical appearance was not even described. Think about that.

It was not even important enough to put in the book and we don't know what he looked like we don't know what color her hair was we don't know how tall she was.

We don't know how much she waiter what body structure. She had not told any of these things about these in Genesis 126 to 31. You don't need to look at these passages you can look them up later. For if you want to do that just for time cycle just kinda go through these tonight. Genesis 126 to 31 says then God said, let us make people in our image to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life. The fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and all the livestock wild animal small animals of God created people in his own image God pattern. Then after himself male and female he created them.

God bless them and told them multiply and fill the earth and subdue it be masters of the fission in the birds and all the animals and God said, look, I have given you the seed bearing plants throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food, and I've given you all the grasses and other green plants to the animals and birds for their food, so it was, and God looked over the TMA and he saw that it was excellent in every way. When Adam and Eve were created they were created in the image of God. He says they were excellent in every way bodies in all appearance in all the physical appearance was not even mentioned that what we do learn what he actually points out just as they were made in the image of God.

They were made to be like God to reflect who he is and they were given responsibility to care for the earth and they were given responsibility to multiply and fill the earth, but he said their bodies were excellent.

The way they were made were excellent. Even though we don't have a description of what they look like in our culture, beauty is usually equated with goodness of some kind or our culture equates beauty with success or equates beauty was significance. But the Bible in the Bible. Beauty is not depicted as either good or bad.

In fact, there's very few times instance is in the Old Testament is not mentioned in the New Testament and in the Old Testament there are sometimes very few times that a person's physical appearance is on is mentioned and we intend to connect that with good, but many times the physical appearance is mentioned in the Old Testament is connected with this phone and the trouble of of man, and for instance in Genesis 12 verses 10 through 13 it says now there was a famine in the land so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land when it came about when he came near to Egypt that he said to Sarah, his wife C now I know that you are beautiful and it will come about when the Egyptians see you that they will say this is his wife and they will kill me that they will let you live.

Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you and that I may live on account of you and see because of of the beauty of Abraham's life. The beauty of Sarah and Abraham feared for his life that it was anything wrong with her being beautiful that he was afraid that his life would be taken that Sarah would be taken away and some eliminate any sin against God, and it was a result of his.

His fear over Sarah's beauty and that she might be taken from him inside. It's an 11 versus 132 says then it happened in the spring at the time when kings go out to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroy the sons of Ammon, but David stayed in Jerusalem.

Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.

Most of us know that story of David and that she then how he saw her and he saw how beautiful she was and he lusted for her and he was enticing tempted by the beauty of this woman and then he ended up committing adultery and and then eventually murder and then also… Lest we think that just this is just a guy just mentions the beauty of women in Genesis 39, verses six and seven talks about Joseph and Joseph. I was in Potiphar's house and in Potiphar the Pharaoh's wife all how handsome Joseph was and she was enticed by the handsome appearance of Joseph body and she lusted for Hannah because of this course.

Joseph responded in a godly way and he ran from her but because of the situation and and she lied about what he did. Joseph ended up in jail and so we see that many times, and I've been reading through the Old Testament this past year and I I've had my eye out for this word for the appearance and it just has been amazing to me how many times this is a connected with the trouble of man in the sinfulness of man, but the Bible easy does not say not saying that that be have a beautiful appearance is either good or bad, but that that sometimes it can lead to a snare temptation to evil. On the other hand, got it times use the physical beauty of someone to bring about good. As with Queen Esther and who, because of Esther's beauty was chosen to be the Queen and as clean. She would be placed in a position where God could use her life to bring deliverance her people and so there we see that it was used in a very positive way. Also in the song of Solomon one versus 15 to 16 we see it says how beautiful you are my darling help you. You are your eyes are like jobs does your husband never say that to you how he and me are my beloved God is teaching us and it's a good thing for husband and wife to be delighted with the physical appearance of their mate to enjoy that and then interestingly I thought this was in the New Testament of a woman's physical appearance is is never even mentioned the Bible never instructs us to achieve physical beauty never instructs us to do that and it doesn't teach that physical beauty is a special blessing for those who have it and so knowing what the Bible says about beauty. This leads us to our first truth. Tonight we really want to embrace and that is my physical appearance is full to God. It's beautiful to him because he designed me and he created me just the way he wanted me to just the way he wanted you today on his child and I've been created in God's NH. I've never known a mother who didn't think her newborn baby was just so cute and so wonderful and so beautiful in every way and that baby was armed and that mother's womb is a part of her and her baby has some unique characteristics that are like her and she neatly she loves it and she thinks it's beautiful no matter what it looks like and eight years ago. I have Eddie all look to that date. It wasn't that he didn't try to keep neither you know she thinks there are to show her child is the most common several years ago. Quite a few years ago.

Really, I worked as a secretary on a college campus and many of the women who work there. They were young married women and they were at this stage in their lives when they were having babies and every time a new baby was born in this group pretty close.

A group of women up there every time the baby was born, the mother would come up after a week or so and she would bring her baby on her lap and show it off to all them people who work there and I worked with a young woman named Sue and Winston's baby was born it was born with a severe cleft palate and her baby just wasn't as cute to look at as all the other babies that were brought up there and that that seem to matter to sue her baby had required several surgeries to be able to repair the.

The problem with her with her mouth and her baby just didn't look as cute as the other babies that you want. I was amazed as I watched her, and I wasn't a Christian, yet she was and I watched her life and she brought that baby up there and she was so proud of it and she showed her baby off and she said their attendance seated in a special way.

She took care that they be as we watched her into her know what is most beautiful baby in the whole world because it was it was her baby. She longed that baby and it was hers was a part of her and it didn't matter. You see, it didn't matter to say what are little girls appearance look like because she belonged to sue.

She was her.

She was her child and what you to know tonight that that's how it is with God that that's how he sees each one of us say we are his. We belong to him and we were created in his image to be like him and he loves us just the way we are and each one of us is beautiful. Beautiful in his sight will God supervised and she watched over each of us as we were intricately knitted together in our mother's one and Psalm 139 versus 13 to 18 it says you made all the delicate inner parts of my body and together in my mother's womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. It's amazing to think about your workmanship is marvelous how well I know it you were there. While I was being formed in utter seclusion. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day in my life before I begin to breathe every day was recorded in your book how precious it is Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly. I can even count how many times a day.

Your thoughts turn towards me and when I awaken in the morning you are still thinking of me how much God loves you and that's how special and important. Every person is to him. God sovereignly supervise the process of year reproduction and he made a masterpiece you were born into this world as a unique individual in a person who is created in the image of God and a person is created to reflect the image of God, a person who is beautiful in the eyes of God because you are part of him and and every child that he makes us different.

Every child he makes us different but they're very special. No, we come in all shapes and sizes and colors and and characteristics unique to us that we are one-of-a-kind we are unique and beautiful hand very special living Wellbutrin Sparta Vargas teacher Teresa Ingram's message mirror on the wall for her series, precious in his sight, she insurable joined us shortly to share some additional thoughts of application to what we've heard, you often feel like you don't measure up, or that your past mistakes were failures disqualify you in some way from being accepted through the series. Teresa Ingram candidly reflects on her own painful journey with self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness will sure how God freed her from that mindset and opened her eyes to see her true beauty and value don't live so you can experience the freedom to better understand God's love. For more information about precious in his sight or series resources go to LivingontheEdge.org or call AAA 3336003X AAA 333-6003, or LivingontheEdge.org up listeners top special offers which are but really excited for listeners to do this meaningful series from your wife, Teresa, but I'm sure there's people listening maybe some men were thinking I don't need to hear this. Would you share what you think we all need to hear the series will Davis is absolutely geared more for women fact my wife taught this some time ago to a group of women, and then she actually the response was so overwhelming. We develop some cards and actually are brand-new books coming out on this. But here's the thing. As she was teaching this and as I've listened to it.

It really help me understand her really help me understand my daughter and you know you read now today about teenage girls and young women and cutting themselves in overwhelming anxiety. You know, we as men, we don't really understand how women look at themselves and held are bombarded with messages and then here's an insight that I'm a little embarrassed to share all the things she talks about the women struggle with ready guys so do I compare myself with others. I think you know I don't look the way I'd like to we've got all the same issues. I just think women are bombarded by it for more than us. So let me encourage you guys stick with this if for no other reason to understand the women in your life and then help them. Thanks for the trip. We hope you make plans to be with us for this entire series. And if you happen to miss a program you can always listen on the trip Ingram up horrid LivingontheEdge.org without her stripping Teresa to share some additional thoughts about today's message Teresa I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for joining me here in studio as I just said this is a topic that really speaks to everyone because we all struggle with self-worth. So as a place to start. What he hoping listeners are going to get out of the series there's five things that I've thought about that. I want people to gain or glean from this series and the first one is to have hope.

If we don't have a hook, then it's so easy just to give up on everything and the second one is encouragement. I want them to grasp more how much God loves them. I want them to be able to experience more freedom from the negative lies that they tell themselves, and I realize for me that I tell myself that I'm going to fail at something before I even try it and said those negative thoughts really hinder us in being able to move ahead and do God's will and I grew up hearing lots of negative words from my parents all the time. I remember my dad specifically saying to me when I wanted to quit a class that I I just was just too hard for me and he said if you if you quit this now you always be a failure and so I had all those words in my mind as I grew up in and out in way into my adult life and their lives. It's not the truth about who I am and what God wants for me and number five is the only way to have freedom from negative thoughts is through God's word and through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, to know God's truth is, what will set us free.

So because of Christ. I am a new person. I have a new life and I don't have to live in my old thinking in my old ways of thinking that I can think, according to God's ways in God's word in my life to those are the specific things that I would like people to gain from this series will thanks so much for coming in and I've had a front row seat to see how God is really transform your life and then her daughter and then literally thousands of other people. So I just can't wait for our listeners to spend this time as you teach us. Thanks so much Teresa as we wrap up that would affect those of you who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs. Purchaser time and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. If you've been blessed by the ministry of Living on the Edge. Would you consider sending a gift today. Call us at AAA 333-6003 or go to LivingontheEdge.org up listeners top donate.

Your support is greatly appreciated: select son was really say thanks for listening. This addition of living on the