“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly” – John 7:25 NLT

“We are His workmanship” – Ephesians 2:10 NKJV

The first blog post I wrote about judging by appearances had to do with how we view others based on their appearance, race, gender, background, economic status, etc. This time I would like to focus on how we can falsely judge ourselves by our appearances. The first definition of “appearance” the Merriam-Websters dictionary is “an external show.”

We may think that we “have it all together,” because we have a good job, a wonderful spouse, great kids, lots of money, or simply because our lives are going the way that we want them to go – the direction and plan that we have always wanted. We may equate outward or material success with God’s favor. We may think that we are “good with God” because we have the approval of others or because we do good things for other people. However, our inner spiritual lives may be crumbling. We may also have the wrong idea about other people we encounter. “Wow, they always look perfect and their kids always seem to behave,” we may think. However, their marriage could be on the rocks or they could be suffering from depression.

You just can’t judge a book by its cover, can you?

On the other side, we may fall into deception about ourselves in a different way. Perhaps you love God and seek to serve others humbly with your life, but in spite of what you know God says about you in His Word, you are never happy with yourself – in fact, you may very well loathe yourself if you fail to meet your own standards or other’s standards whom you want to please.  Perhaps this bothers you more than you would like to admit and you realize that you value what others think of you more than what God thinks of you.

This is an area I must personally revisit often – because I must confess that far too many times I have judged myself not through God’s eyes but through my own harsh and critical eyes. Our human tendency is to look at ourselves wrongly – to either puff ourselves up with praise and pride or condemn ourselves with critical words, reducing our worth to rubble.

But God. God brings us into balance when we will look to Him to define our worth. Yes, we are sinners. Yes, we fail and fall daily. But God has made us new creations, and daily we have the opportunity to believe that His Holy Spirit can and is renewing us from the inside out. We can stand up again. We can confess our sins and find healing. We can humble ourselves and ask God for help. And we can look at ourselves through God’s eyes – the eyes that lift us from the ash heaps of our unworthiness, calling us to ‘sit with Him in heavenly places’. The eyes that humble us and call us lower, to find greatness in serving and loving, rather than in the praise of men or the successes of this life.

How about you, friend? Do you think you’re okay spiritually because you are enjoying outward blessings such as a good job, financial success, or a happy family?  Do you judge yourself too harshly, setting standards for yourself that you can never meet? Do you hunger for praise from God or man?  Where does your worth and estimation of yourself come from? Take a few moments today to ask The Lord how He views you – and pray for the grace to see yourself in the light of His face alone.