Daily Encouragement: Day 286

Adapted from Handbook to Spiritual Growth

SEEING OURSELVES AS GOD SEES US

What does it mean to see ourselves as God sees us? Contrary to our culture, the biblical doctrine of grace humbles us without degrading us, and elevates us without inflating us. It avoids the extreme of “worm” theology (I’m worthless, I’m no good, I’ll never amount to anything, I’m nothing but a rotten sinner) and the opposite extreme of pride and autonomy (“What do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”—1 Corinthians 4:7).

Grace teaches us that the most important thing about us is not what we do but who and whose we are in Christ. It tells us that apart from Christ, we have nothing and can do nothing of eternal value. But with Christ, we enjoy complete forgiveness from sins and limitless privileges as unconditionally accepted members of God’s family. Our past has been changed because of our new heredity in Christ, and our future is secure because of our new destiny as members of His body.