I’m on something of a quest to be heretical. Let me tell you what I mean …
Heretical is one of those words which even sounds ugly. There’s certainly a negative feel to the word. But read on, there is a meaning to the word which is good, a way that we can be heretical in a very positive way!
Of course usually we think of a heretic as a person who believes and practices a religious heresy, something antithetical to the faith.
I’m not fascinated with fundamentally challenging my faith and becoming a heretic as we normally think of it.
It is healthy though to constantly quest to live more accurately, to seek to align everything more harmoniously to our set of beliefs. This may mean that we challenge contemporary beliefs and norms related to our faith, getting to its core essence.
Changing how you see yourself … what can it make possible? This is an intriguing and insightful social experiment from the Dove company:
Women will instantly relate to this. There is much here for men too – not only to better understand the women in their lives, but also to better understand how they think about themselves and how it affects everything.
A forensic composite artist sketched the faces of women as they described themselves. He didn’t look at them. As a professional trained by the FBI, he just visually expressed their self-perception, how they saw themselves.
The core question was, “Tell me how you see yourself.”
This won’t be too surprising. The women were harsh on themselves. The critical lens through which they viewed themselves was somewhat dark. It was unbecoming … even painful.
Then, the artist drew each woman’s face again – this time, it was a composite sketch based on how others, specifically strangers perceived them.
You know the outcome here. There was a marked difference between how each woman saw themselves and the composite perspective of how others viewed them.
Others saw them in a more gentle, lighter, open way.
In a real sense, the women were seeing themselves in an inaccurate fashion. They may have even believed lies about themselves.
What causes this? Our subservience to mass media is a big factor. Perhaps we continue to gaze in the “mirror” of toxic experiences. Surely some temperaments are more prone to harsh self-criticism than others.
As the women saw the drawings side by side, it was an authentic eye-opener for them.
This issue is important. We all probably have interior work to do on how we see ourselves. It affects a lot: Relationships. The choices we make. Our professional lives. Happiness.
One the unique traits that makes us human is we can think about how we are thinking. You are more beautiful than you think. More powerful. And you are more able.
Questions can be powerful: What can changing your view of yourself make possible?
When Jesus said, “Because I live, you will live also,” He was declaring a new dimension of life available to any who will receive Him and His.
Most believers in Jesus live an inferior quality of life simply because they have never come to terms with His full offer. Christ the Lord, the resurrected Son of God, has made available to us both forgiveness of sins and fullness of life …
You’re designed to live a life that only you can live. Singular.
Here’s a sure-fire plan for misery: chase others’ dreams in place of your own. Marching in someone else’s parade is not good for anyone. It robs the Larger Story of YOU.
Dreams. They’re personal … between you and the Creator.
You don’t need to be a hero. The big man.
You have the chance to walk with everyone else in the journey, appreciating the diversity of it all …
Do you need to experience personal change … so that you can experience new things in your life?
THE ULTIMATE CHANGE AGENT: ”Behold, I have made you a new sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains, and pulverize them, and will make the hills like chaff” (Isaiah 41.15 NASB)
He is the God of the NEW, a NEW that has never been seen before. In Christ, we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5.17). Jesus Himself says “I am making everything new” (Rev. 21.5).
