“… There is none good but one, that is, God.” (Mark 10:18)
We would do better letting God assess us than trying to assess ourselves. But our pride has a very hard time accepting God’s verdict of us. We may already be struggling with our self-image, and then to hear that God deems us “no good” can be a bit hard to take.
We should start off by not seeing ourselves the way human beings see us. Scripture tells us: “For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7) Man not only looks on our outward physical appearance, he also only sees our public face, and knows little of who we are in secret. But God knows everything about us. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Prov. 15:3)
Even as we can look better on some days; our behavior can be great one day, but awful the next. We are all a “mixed bag.” God doesn’t judge us against each other, He measures us by His own standard of goodness – the one shown us when He Himself took on flesh and lived this life as a man.
Here is God’s verdict: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) You may be able to pretty yourself up for human eyes; but it’s no use thinking you can change God’s mind about you. The only way He will ever call you good is when His Son is living inside you. He will make you what you are not. He will enable you to love God and man the way He did. He is our “hope of glory.”
Don’t let Satan fool you. He will have you desperately clinging to your own goodness and righteousness to protect your dignity. But the choice is not between self-love and self-hatred; it is between falling short of true glory and goodness and discovering in the Person of Christ a dignity far greater than your own.
When Christ is in you, and you are walking in Him, it won’t matter what you look like in any earthly mirror or photo, you are spectacularly beautiful in God’s sight.