American culture gives mixed messages regarding our identity. On one hand, our identity is based largely on how we look and (on the same hand) on the prestige we can earn through what we do. Why else would anybody get calf implants? Or become a lawyer? Even regular people who can't afford to have silicone or collagen injected or implanted into their bodies work hard to attract positive attention. While we do some things because we enjoy them, part of the enjoyment comes from the applause. A certain level of praise is earned from peers and parents through being on the football team, the chess club, the honor roll and even in Christian clubs. Different groups of peers have different values for each of these activities, but every activity we do will be socially rewarding through a certain set of people.
On the other hand, American culture also tells us that our self-esteem has to be based on how we feel about ourselves. If no one likes your new barbed-wire tattoo, you are to say, "That's OK. I like my tattoo, and my self-esteem is based on how I feel about myself. So, nyah." But, as the pastor Tim Keller once noted, if you feel better about yourself by using your own standards instead of someone else's, it means you have lower standards than they do. How does that make you feel? (And on a side note, if you get a tattoo around your bicep, please commit yourself to doing arm curls, at least with that one arm. Nothing looks more pathetic than a muscle tattoo around a stick arm. And if you disagree, it's because your standards are lower than mine. )
We are to base our identities solely on how Jesus sees us. Maybe you already knew that. But, I know you chose your clothes this morning based on how you wanted someone else to think of you. I know you choose the music you listen to partly based upon how you want other people to think of you. And I know that getting some appreciation from that exciting woman will make you feel better about yourself. I also know focusing on that exciting woman will lead to you doing something stupid. Focus instead on your value to God, remembering that it is His grace, not your actions, that has saved you, and you will make good choices, and even have good fruit. (For the importance of having good fruit, read James 2.)
So, how does God see you? Well, here's a hint: Jesus died for you. Think about that for a while. Contemplate it. Know it until it becomes like fire shut up in your bones. Now, don't you want to please God? And don't you want to please him out of appreciation to Him rather than out of duty? That knowledge might not change which shirt you wear tomorrow, but it will change your reaction when that exciting woman tells you that you look like a dork.
