The standards by which we measure ourselves: the world’s standard or God’s standard. The world’s standard looks at the outward, but God’s Word informs us of our heart condition. Keep this in mind as we continue to explore what self-image is.

It is hard for us to fathom what it was like for Adam and Eve to be in constant communion with God, never sinning, always content because they were worshipping and glorifying their Creator. The sad fact is that this image in them was shattered when Satan came and successfully tempted them. Last month’s article spoke briefly about their Fall in the Garden. This is where the image of God in all its purity, uprightness, and holiness was shattered.

Adam was created in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, in God’s image, but when he sinned, that perfect image of God in him was lost. Through Adam, we have not lost the entirety of God’s image in us; we are able to think and reason, and these are remnants of God’s image. Imagine yourself out on the lake in your canoe. You look over into the water and the water is perfectly calm, reflecting your image. Then, suddenly, your paddle falls in the water, rippling the water and distorting your image. This is what sin has done to God’s image in us, but on a far greater scale. Adam’s sin is our sin. This is where our broken self-image began.

The world’s standard will tell you that a person with positive self-image is happy with life, has popular friends, is dressed in the right clothes, wears his hair the right way, says all the right things, and knows how to play the best sports. A person with a negative self-image, however, is one who is not so attractive, who doesn’t have popular friends, who seems different from the rest. You might be familiar with the positive vs. negative self-image distinction. It’s played out almost every day in your lives: in the halls of schools, in the classroom, at church, or even at home. “Self-image has everything to do with who you are,” the world tells you, and let’s face it: all of us are afraid to have a negative self-image and strive to have a positive self-image.

But there is one fundamental problem in the positive vs. negative self-image distinction: all are sinners in need of grace, in need of the re-creation of God’s image in us as it was in the beginning, to have God’s image restored. As we look overboard at our image reflected in the “water” of God’s Word, we must all come to the same conclusion: our images are distorted by sin no matter who we are. God’s Word is clear: “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22b-23). We don’t need to be afraid to be placed in either category, because the Bible is clear as to what our view of self should be: we are sinners in Adam, but if we are in Christ, then we are being conformed to His image who is the image of God.

So how do you change your self-image? Begin with the Word of God and let it inform you of the root of your problem, which is sin. But let the Bible also inform you of the solution to your problem: Jesus Christ. In Him alone we have the solution to our broken self-image. When we are born again, Christ represents us as the second Adam. He did what the first Adam failed to do; He lived uprightly and made full payment for sin by His blood. When His blood cleanses us from sin, God’s image is restored in us. Ripple by ripple, the water is smoothed and we begin to see a new image, not our own, but Christ’s.