Compassionate Considerations

You Were Created for love – Key # 1

Posted on 28 March 2008

The image you have of yourself will determine the level of intimacy in which you walk – p.21 Experiencing the Father’s Embrace, Finding Acceptance in the arms of a loving God : Jack Frost

I read this several months ago but did not realize the depth of its significance until a couple of weeks ago. In my quiet meditations, I came to realize that a lot of things that kept me from fully experiencing the love of the Father expressed toward me, came from my perception of who I was in His eyes. The way I viewed myself was so different from how God viewed me as His son.

It was also very similar to human interpersonal relationships. When we feel that we do not deserve to be loved, we act in ways that sabotage any relationship we have with others. This morning when we woke up, I started telling my wife about some of my family backgrounds and experiences that shaped me and to some extent still influence me to this day. These things create a certain groove in our memories and our present and future (if we are not healed) will always pass through these grooves. Things are processed according to the pathways used.

If I walk in a distorted image of self, my intimacy and the depth of it will also be affected significantly. I will run away from God, run away from my spouse and my friends. More importantly, if our self image is based on our perfomances, we will always be walking through the minefields. Someone said that the worst formula to live by is this:

My self- esteem = how I perform and how others look at me.

Our self-perception will always make us believe that we need to perform to get someone’s approval. Or better yet, earn God’s approval

What is the image of yourself that you carry deep inside your heart? May God transform the images we carry inside of us so that we may experience to the deepest depths God’s love and give it to the next person we meet.