This is
how Donald Miller, as an alien, views the world…
“Humans,
as a species, are constantly, and in every way, comparing themselves to one
another, which, given the brief nature of their existence, seems an oddity and,
for that matter, a waste. Nevertheless,
this is the driving influence behind every human’s social development, their
emotional health and sense of joy, and, sadly, their greatest tragedies. It is as though something that helped them
function and live well has gone missing, and they are pining for that missing
thing in all sorts of odd methods, none of which are working. The greater tragedy is that very few people
understand they have the disease. This
seems strange as well because it is obvious. To be sure, it is killing them, and yet sustaining their social and
economic systems. They are an entirely
beautiful people with a terrible problem.”
When I first read through
this it struck me as an interesting way to view mankind and an alien, that was
only observing earth, could easily make assumptions like that. But when I went back and read it again, I was
convicted! I realized that this made up
alien was correct. This is how humans
have been living for centuries, since Adam and Eve sinned. This is how I have been living my life as
long as I could remember. In this
particular chapter of this book, Miller points out how since the fall, we have
a void in our lives that we try to fill by others standards. We seek the approval of our peers, wanting to
be accepted and praised for our looks, behaviors, occupations, lifestyles, and
everything else, instead of seeking the approval of our Lord. As I continued to read this chapter and then
the next and the next, God just kept telling me that this is the reason I have
so many problems in my life; that I desire others to like me and accept me for
who I am. I know in my head that God
made me just the way he wants me to be, looks and all; however, there is some
glitch in the communication between the head and the heart. I thought, for the longest time, that I was
content and only needed God’s approval, but that was far from the truth. I thought about my behaviors day in and day
out, and I found out the most shocking news ever, that I lack confidence I who
I am because I need others to tell me that I am beautiful, funny, intelligent,
hard-working, etc. I was looking in all
the wrong places for comfort and acceptance. Scripture tells me that God “made man in his own image, in the image of
God he created them…” (Genesis 1:27) since God would not make anything
unpleasing to himself, than it is assumed that we would NEVER be unpleasing in
his sight. I am learning that when I
think badly about myself I am putting down God and telling him that he messed
up on the creation somehow. Logically
that is not possible for God to make anything ugly or imperfect, so it is just
a matter of me being able to believe it enough in my heart to look in the
mirror and appreciate the beauty that God put within me and on the
outside.
I know that I am not the
only person to suffer from this and I just want to encourage you that if you
are one of those you constantly compare yourself to others, to at least
recognize “the disease”, so that you can pray through it and ask God to help
you see otherwise. I have only begun
this process and so far it is a lot harder than I would have expected. It’s so easy to put ourselves down and see
the negative and it is so hard to accept that God thinks I am gorgeous and that
is ALL that matters. As you do this,
please keep me in prayer asking God to help me break out of the mold and see
myself the way my Father sees me!
