Atongla Rothrong
If we don’t expect much of ourselves, we aim low or set no goals at all. In the parables of the talents, Jesus was not actually teaching about self-image, but the man who was given one talent behaved like a man who had a very poor view of himself. He compared himself with the one who had five and the one who had two, looked at his own single talent and decided it wasn’t worth bothering about, so he buried it. Instead of viewing his one talent positively, he felt inferior and useless. In throwing away the potential that he did have, he achieved nothing. So, a low self-image can lock us up and inhibit us from entering into our God-given potential. We need a new healthy self-image.
What is a self-image? There is some confusion here because some of us feel that it is right to have a humble opinion of ourselves. On the one hand, we see that Jesus was meek and lowly, a servant, and we are told we must be like him. On the other hand, we are exhorted to be in victory, to be over comers- then we are told that women are to be submissive and in the next breath that they are to rise and take their place! Are humility and confidence mutually exclusive?
Paul tells us in Romans 12:3, that each of us must not think of themselves more highly than he ought, but to have ‘sound judgement’. It seems to me that very few women are prone to think of themselves ‘too highly’. More often they have a self-image which is actually ‘too-lowly’. So, on what do we base ‘sound judgement?’
How can we exchange a negative attitude towards ourselves for a positive, well-balanced one? In Philippians 2:5 we read, ‘Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus’. Which attitude? What sort of self-image did Jesus have? That’s what you and I need to know.
Contrary to some opinions, Jesus did not have an identity crisis. He knew without doubt who he was: equal with God, send by God, God in the flesh. He was totally secure in his identity and therefore did not have to prove it to himself or to anyone else. The knowledge that he was the son of God did not make him arrogant. Rather, he beautifully blended deep humility and complete confidence.
Picture Jesus at the Last Supper. There he is, welcoming his disciples, his close companions for years. This was a special, intimate meal; his last before he was to depart from this world to go to the father. He was fully aware of his power, identity and destiny: “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God” (John 13:3). What memorable speech did he then utter? What breath-taking miracle did he perform? What supernatural act accompanied that knowledge? Divergent to anything we could imagine, he washed the feet of his disciples.
Jesus’ actions were deliberate. They were an example. He wanted his disciples to see that serving has a dignity of its own when it is rightly motivated. Someone who is secure and unworried about his identity has no problem with serving. He is not bothered with maintaining an image. Jesus by identifying with all the nobodies in History paved the way for them to become some bodies.
Our main problem is that we have believed certain negative things about ourselves for so long that our minds are set in the belief that we are set in the belief that we are still nobodies. We may have received the wonderful gospel and been set free from sin, but we can still despise ourselves and think that God despises us too.
The enemy cannot take away our salvation, but he can try to rob us of the joy of it by whispering lies to us about our self-image. If we consistently listen to him, we shall begin to believe that what he says is true. The picture we shall then begin to adopt of ourselves will be false, or at the least distorted. What we really need to know is what God really thinks about us. If we can receive his evaluation, we will walk in truth, and the truth will set us free.
Perhaps, my favorite picture of how God sees women is in Psalms 45. This is a song of bubbling joy and wonder, describing the awesome majesty of the King. But, who is this standing by his side? ‘At thy right hand stands the Queen in gold from Ophir (verse 9). Who is this beautiful, regal figure? She can be interpreted as the Church, the community of ‘called out ones’, chosen by the King of Kings to be his bride, his consort, the one in whom he has deposited his kingly rule. But I believe that any Christian women can rightly see herself as a Queen.
How can a woman possibly aspire to such a place? The answer is, she doesn’t aspire to it, it is given to her. Her Queen ship is her’s by virtue of her relationship to the King. It is not earned, it is not to be grasped and fought for, it is her’s when she become joined to the King- that is how highly he esteems women!
