Only our Perfect God can see an imperfect you and me.  Ironic it may seem but it’s true!  I believe it’s because our own perception of someone is highly or even absolutely influenced by who we are and how we see ourselves.  God is perfect, therefore only He can see us perfect as the result of His PERFECT SACRIFICE offered in the person of Jesus Christ.  When we come to know this truth, trust is inevitable which begets perfect peace, confident that because of the blood of the Lamb of God, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, not of ourselves nor of our own doings.  “It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His WORKMANSHIP, created IN CHRIST JESUS for good works, which God PREPARED BEFOREHAND that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

“You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on You—in both inclination and character],
Because he trusts and takes refuge in You [with hope and confident expectation].               Isaiah 26:3 Amp

Haven’t you noticed that when we see other people, we always have our own opinion of them which may or may not be contrary to how others see them.  It’s because this is how we have been naturally wired, so influenced by how the world sees.  But the good news is, there is a superior truth to this.  God’s thoughts and ways are higher which He made possible for us to be influenced with.

 ^“And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be TRANSFORMED and PROGRESSIVELY CHANGED  [as you mature spiritually] by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].”  Romans 12:2 AMP

Transformation begins with a renewed thinking.  A renewed thinking is a result of meditating His Word day and night.  “Study this Book of Instruction continually.  Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.  Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” (Joshua 1:8 NLT)

We are works in progress.  We are on a journey of learning and every time we take in something whether good or bad, we increase accordingly.  We are never the same as five minutes ago.  Our thought process changes as we receive what we CHOOSE to receive and believe.  Why not be geared towards meditating on something that is highly beneficial to us?  Meditate on the Word.  The more we think on the word, more is deposited into our hearts and out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths speak and what we release from our mouths, we SEE!

A caterpillar transformed into a butterfly doesn’t happen in an instant.  It goes through stages that not a part of the process is to be skipped for every step is vital to its development.  The larva slowly dissolves from its former worm-like state into an unrecognizable, gooey substance and dies. But, within the goo is the promise of life and change and struggle. Sleeping cells within the goo originally present from birth turn on and begin to build a new creature unlike the former.  Such transformation shows us a dramatic shift from one stage to the next until it becomes a totally new creation before our sight.  It’s that point in time when we can’t logically look at the newness, freshness and beauty of a butterfly and say it was once a caterpillar.  There’s nothing in it that will make you think that way.  Nothing from the old is part of the new.  That’s transformation.

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  2 Corinthians 5:17

A new creation means that something NEW has shaped and formed.  It is an outcome in the process of change.  We are new creations in Christ Jesus.  The way we think is to reveal the brilliance, the radiance of God’s word and His very nature.  We are to have a mind that picks up God’s mind and radiates His hope to any given situation, confidently expectant that something GOOD is about to break forth.

When we have the mind of Christ, this truth becomes our beacon of hope, seeing not just ourselves but seeing others the same way God sees us, perfectly seen and deeply loved by our Perfect Father!

Confidently knowing experientially His perfect love for us, fear loses its hold on us.  Our earthbound limited thoughts are transformed into heavenly limitless thoughts, fearless in the love of God.  And when we get FEAR-FREE, we become a people of peace, joy, love who are pleasantly easy to be with.  A people of great influence, a difference-maker, and a love carrier!

 

Photo Credits:  Malu Montemayor Schaefer