Selfie Talk

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Image Source: Toni Hukkanen

We are living in the 'selfie' generation.

It is not strange to experience multitudes of people pulling out their phones, sticking their arms far up in the air and taking photos of themselves with their friends or a landmark in the background.

Often, one selfie is not enough. One can often hear the comments: "Take another one, that was my bad side" or "My hair looks bad in that one, don't you dare put it on Instagram!"

I am not taking a dig at the selfie generation. I am often one of the biggest perpetrators. 

However, one thing that this craze has shown me is how obsessed we are with ourselves and the image that we have of ourselves - which is often a negative one.

Our view of ourselves is important because it affects how we interact with God, ourselves and others.

If we have a bad self-image, we often show resentment towards God, jealousy towards others and shame towards ourselves.

I believe that our negative self-image is because we focus more on the world's expectation of us as opposed to God's view of us.

When we are trying to live up to the world's standards, we will always fall short, we will always need to be better, we will always need to change something about ourselves.

But when we learn to see ourselves as God sees us, we will no longer need to live our lives behind filters and lies. God made us in God's own image and God does not make mistakes.

We are not perfect in every way, but God loves us just the way we are. God doesn't need us to alter our imperfections in order to love us any more. So what makes us a better judge of our image than the God who created us?
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about.
Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it.
You were there when I was being formed in utter seclusion!
You saw me before I was born and scheduled every day of my life before I began 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't even count how many times a day Your thoughts turn toward me!
And when I waken in the morning, You are still thinking of me!"
- Psalm 139:13-18 (The Living Bible)

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