What do you see when you look in the mirror?

Do you see looking back at you a man or a woman of failure? Do you look at yourself and see someone who does not match up to the expectations of the world?

It’s easy to look around us today and see that many times we are failing in what the world calls success.  We struggle at work. We struggle in our families. We struggle with relationships. Finances, education, physical appearance or aptitude.

When I look in the mirror, I see someone who doesn’t quite achieve the level of success that I would like in these areas. I see sins, I see wrong decisions, I see bad habits. These types of thoughts and comparisons lead to depression and low confidence.

Our peer groups, sentimentalities, and media all set a high standard of who we are supposed to be. We’ve spent our whole lives allowing the world to shape our idea of who we want to be and how we want to get there; and when we fail at this, it can be a weight on us.

The world today has an epidemic where everyone simultaneously feels completely entitled but completely lacking in self-esteem. This self-esteem, this self-worth and personal value is something quite elusive. No one can give it to us, we have to believe it ourselves.

When we look in the mirror, we view ourselves with our own eyes and with the world’s eyes; And if our camera is always set on a certain filter, we will always see the way the filter wants us to. So I would like to propose that we change the filter and get a different reflection in the mirror. We need to view our self worth through Yah’s eyes instead.

And just who are you in His eyes?

Because we often go around claiming that we are special, that we are God’s children, and then go about feeling like an orphan! We say “I was made in God’s image”, but then walk around acting like we really feel like we were made in the image of a rotting corpse.

When Yahweh looks at us, He sees things completely different from the way we see it. In what ways?

God sees potential.

Now Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.” So Samuel did what Yahweh said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely Yahweh’s anointed is before Him!” But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For Yahweh does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:1-7

Now what was so different about David? A lot of times we just infer that he was the puniest and least-kingly looking one of all of them. But that’s not what the Bible says. Scripture says David was good looking, David was capable of taking care of the sheep, and David was strong enough to fight off wild animals. So then what was different about David compared to his brothers?

Apparently, according to verse 7, it was David’s inner part (meaning who he was as a person, his character and passion, and most importantly, his potential). Yah saw something in David that He knew would bring about a golden age that Israel would never know without him. David brought an period of expansion, of domination in war, of prosperity and abundance. Quite a long way from a poor nobody of a country sheep herder!

When Yah views us, he does not focus on where we are currently, nor does he focus on our failures. He is a future-focused being that looks to His plans for us and the possibilities we have.

Just think about that for a second.

Rahab was a prostitute and a liar. Ruth was a broke widow with no family and without anything to offer. That did not stop God from looking at them with His own eyes and seeing their potential. These two women ended up being included in the blood line, the heritage of Yeshua Himself! I’m sure that is not something that Rahab or Ruth ever would have thought about if they had looked in a mirror with their own eyes. They would have likely focused on the present and where they were now, what was holding them back, the obstacles in their life and in their character.

As humans we seem to have difficulty viewing things as what they could be versus what they are now. When my wife and I were buying our previous house, on the first visit she hated it! The floors were carpeted and an ugly old stained pink. The walls were covered with cheap old wallpaper and poorly built. The whole house layout was terrible. When we left from that first visit, my wife turned to me and said “no way, absolutely not!” But then I told her not to view it as it was currently, but what it could be- that it was the perfect type of house to re-do and make our own. And of course the house and property took many years of hard work before we were satisfied. But that’s the point of potential: it is never immediate, it is a process to hone a desired outcome.

So when we look at ourselves in the mirror, when it comes to self worth, instead of looking at our current state or situation, we should practice reviewing ourselves with God’s eyes, with His mirror instead, As beings of immense potential and opportunity.

How else does Yah view us? 

God sees true worth.

In both Matthew 25 and Luke 19 we can read the parable of the talents. If we are being honest with ourselves, we are often very much like the third servant. We look at the one talent given to us and we say “this is just one talent, not much to be done with it” (think of all the times you’ve said “I’m just not good at…” or “I’m just a failure”). But Yah shows us that His perspective is much more like the other two servants.

This parable shows us two ways of looking at value. One is simple worth: one talent equals one talent. The other is true worth: five talents equals ten talents.

We say “because I am a human with flaws, sins, and failures- therefore I am an orphan from God”. We assess our value based on who we are in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. Yahweh instead sees us based on His pre-ordained value of us.

People without kids might look at children around them and see misbehavior or poor manners and therefore assess the child’s value based on their actions. A parent instead looks at their child regardless of actions with already predetermined value based on the sole fact that they are their child.

We are able to transcend who we are simply because we are valued by Yahweh!

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:10-14

The Pharisee sits and adds up all of his good deeds, his rank as a teacher, and his authority, and then assigns value to himself based on those things. The tax collector instead relies of the preexisting value that he knows he already has from his Creator.

You see, the Pharisee in this situation wants to build themselves up so that they can live and act in the image of God, while the Tax collector realizes that they already have value as a being made in the image of God.

True self worth then is not something that results from our actions or deeds. When Yah looks at our reflection in the mirror, we already hold such a high value to Him.

The final way that Yah views us:

God sees intent, not outcome.

We often see flaws based on outcome: a declined job promotion, a loss in a competition, a failed habit, a reconciliatory rejection, etc. But Yah sees the intent of each of these actions.

Just because the end result is not what was desired, the reasons and motivation for trying are what are important to Him.

“I, Yahweh, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” – Jeremiah 17:10

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12

This is not the way that we see ourselves, is it? This is not the way the world tells us to look at ourselves. Self worth to us is based on outcomes. The effort you put into a relationship or a work project is not what ends up mattering, but rather if the results were correct and effective.

But Yah doesn’t see that way. Through His eyes, he sees the intent behind it. That’s why we have the example of the “widow’s mite” in Mark 12:41-44. Others watching could say that her actions were of no value. In fact, she may have thought that herself! Her offering was worth little. But of course through the explanation of Yeshua here we see that the Father’s eyes see differently.

Why is it important to see ourselves the way God sees us? Why is it important to judge our self worth in Yah’s mirror rather than the world’s?

If we are able to change our human perspective of our value to our Maker by looking at potential, at true preexisting value, and at intents of the heart… then we can look at our failures and our sinful nature in a different way. Not as an excuse for them, but to no longer be bogged down in guilt or shame by them.

Proverbs 24:16 says “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again”. Each time we fail, we have the opportunity to allow mistakes to eat away at our own self worth. However, by seeing our self worth through our Father’s eyes we can rise up again.

So what do you see when you look in that mirror?

Do you look with your eyes and see a person who is a sum total of their current life? Or do you see through the eyes of God someone who has potential and a future full of possibilities when following Him?

Do you add up your life and stature and calculate your value based on what you see? Or do you understand that you are already a child of the Almighty, already made in His image before you even step in front of that mirror?

Do you see yourself based on the outcomes in your life, or based on the intents behind every thought and action?

Part of developing ourselves to become more Messiah-like and to mimic the behavior and image of Yah is to be able to see our own self worth the same way He does.

We are precious in His sight!

Don’t believe me? Look these up: 

• 1 Peter 2:9
• Isaiah 43:1-4
• 1 John 3:1

Shabbat shalom my friends, and may we all look in the mirror and see what Yah sees.