How can it be that you see me and know me? That thought is too wild for my mind to contain and too precious for my heart to hold.
Yet the truth remains.
You number the hairs on my head and you know my innermost thoughts. You know my name. There has never been a time when you have not seen me; when you haven’t heard my prayers.
Still, I wonder what you think…what you really see when you look at me. Do you see my failures and years of sin? With your eyes upon me do you recall my words of gossip and my haughty, impatient attitude? Do you see me as the prideful girl with jealousy in her heart? I bow my head, close my eyes, and pray that it is not.
Is it possible you instead look at me with the love of a father, pleased with whom you have created? Or, perhaps do you see something even more?
The topic of how people see me has been on my mind quite a bit lately. In some ways I feel I’ve taken a backroads regression to the insecurity of adolescence. What exactly brought this on? Who can know. But I’ve found myself asking, “Who really knows me? Who sees me most accurately?” I wonder if it is myself or others. As I debate this in my mind, I know that neither answer is what really matters, for it is God who sees me with the most accuracy. The true question then becomes, “How does God see me?”
Although I am tempted to begin with saying I am His daughter who is wonderfully made, the answer to this question truly begins in Colossians 3:3- “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” First and foremost, I am “in Christ.” As Sinclair Ferguson once said, “That is a little preposition with a big noun!” That preposition and noun comprises my security, my assurance of salvation, and my true identity. They are the most valuable words I know.
To be in Christ means that he has given me his righteousness in exchange for my sin. Because of this glorious imputation, when God the Father looks upon me He does not see me in the murkiness of my iniquities, but clothed with the righteousness of His Son. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This great exchange is almost incomprehensible- yet, it is the very truth of God. Furthermore, His Word tells me that in Christ I am chosen, forgiven and redeemed, and that I am an adopted daughter and heir with Christ. Consider the following:
Chosen
Ephesians 1:4-5- “For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
1 Peter 2:9- “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Forgiven and Redeemed
Ephesians 1:7- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Galatians 3:13- “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”
Romans 3:23-24- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Adopted Children and Heirs
John 1:12- “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
1 John 3:1- “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
Romans 8:17- “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
And now I know:
Chosen, adopted, forgiven, redeemed. All this and more: an heir forever kept in Christ. Comfort of all comfort you see not only me, a daughter whom you love- but the righteousness of Christ. His perfect life in me, you see me white as snow.
Too often these truths I forget. In my desire to please I fail to recall that my loveliness to you extends far beyond how you have created me. I am lovely to you because I am in my Savior.
This truth will forever remain, for the Son of Man does not change. To the glory of God alone, it is the truth in which I stand. The truth in which I am kept.
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