A Healthy Self Image

Psalm 139:13 – You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me! (NLT)

Walk into any bookstore today and you will see an abundance of books and magazines that offer to teach us how to have a healthy self image.  A healthy self image, we are told, will enable us to be more successful in life.  In particular, parents of young children are taught how vital it is for their children to develop a healthy self image.  Experts in child psychology tell us that the three greatest needs for a child are: to be loved; to matter; to be heard.  A healthy self image is important, and God wants each of us to have a healthy self image, as well.  Indeed, everyone who claims to be a Christian should have a healthy self image!  If you or someone you know struggles with their self image, this is a great passage of Scripture.

Our first need is to be loved.  Consider verse seventeen: How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!  If you have ever fallen in love, then you know that in the newness of that relationship your thoughts are always being drawn to the one you love.  God’s love for us is new each day!  God thinks of us continually, as only one who is deeply in love with another can experience. 

Our second need is to matter to someone.  We matter so much to God that God kept watch over us as we were developing inside our mother’s womb.  No life is an accident in God’s eyes!  From the moment of conception, God is keeping watch over one that God loves.

Our third need is the need to be heard.  God hears us because God is with us (verse 18).  We may find ourselves lonely, but we are never alone. We can start each day knowing that God is there with us, for God is always with us!

Today, let’s lift our chins a little higher, knowing that we matter to God, that God loves us, and God is ready to listen to our every thought and word! 

Posted by Ramón Torres