While living in South Florida over two decades ago, I often saw a bony-legged young woman briskly walking down long stretches of road. Her determined stride and gaunt appearance revealed her inner struggle. After moving to Colorado, I repeatedly noticed a tall, emaciated woman swiftly ambling down the path behind our house. She wore a backpack so massive that I marveled how her bone-thin frame could bear the weight. JB and I tried to engage her in conversation once, when we unexpectedly crossed paths on a trail. The woman blurted out a quick response but refused to slow her pace for even a brief conversation. Her determined yet haggard expression revealed an inner struggle. Both of these women believed themselves to be fat when in reality their skeletal frames revealed the opposite. They lived with a warped perception of themselves.
Anorexia drove these women to walk for hours each day to atone for a perceived defect of obesity. Their warped sense of reality prevented them from seeing their unhealthy, skeletal bodies. Instead they regarded themselves as fat and spent their days driven to perfect themselves.
When we have a distorted sense of reality, it’s similar to the reflection in an amusement park mirror. This happens anytime we do not (or refuse to) see ourselves as God sees us. How does He describe those who are in Christ? Who are we now and what do we look like?
(Completely brand new and forgiven) Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
(Royal and holy) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)
(Bold and disciplined) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
(Conquerors) But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us . . . You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (Romans 8:37; I John 4:4)
(Complete) In Him you have been made complete. (Colossians 2:10a)
We may not be caught in the clutches of an eating disorder, but our enemy uses whatever bait he can to deceive us into believing lies about ourselves. He leads our thoughts and emotions down rabbit trails of condemnation, fear, hopelessness, and anything else that would keep us from seeing ourselves as God sees us. The truth is, the more we understand and take hold of our new identity, the more we will behave like His children: forgiven, royal, holy, bold, disciplined, and complete—able to conquer the evil forces that come against us.
The key is to focus on God’s Word, the Truth that sets us free. And as we meditate on what it says about us, we’ll find ourselves walking in greater freedom than we could have imagined.
