Do you remember the first time you heard a recording of yourself? If you're like most people you were surprised at the sound of your own voice. "Is that really me? Is that what I sound like?" Because you hear your voice from inside your own head, it sounds nothing like the way everyone else in the world hears it.
Our voice isn't the only part of us we may experience differently from others. After a meeting at a ministry I had recently joined one of the attendees asked me if I was sure I was an extrovert. (We'd recently shared our personality profiles with one another as a way of team building.) I was surprised by the question as I'm actually quite an extreme extrovert. "It's just that you're so quiet all the time," he said. As I thought about it, I realized that even though "quiet" wasn't a way I thought about myself, I was making an extra effort to listen and observe until I understood the dynamics of the group.
How we see ourselves tends to dictate how we act. If I think, "I'm not really a leader," then I won't take opportunities to lead. If I believe, "God doesn't work through me that way," then I'll sit back and expect others to be used by him.
I wonder what would happen if we could see ourselves from God's perspective. He created us uniquely for a purpose on this earth. Of course, he knows us best -- better than we even know ourselves. Would seeing ourselves from God's perspective surprise us? Would it cause us to have more faith? Be more bold? Try new things?
I encourage you to take some time over the next few weeks to ask God how he sees you. Then ask him to show you how to respond to this new vision.
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