What do you tell yourself when you look in the mirror or at a selfie or an unfiltered photo of yourself? Pay attention to that voice. It shapes your sense of reality.
In Isaiah 43, God tells the people (through Isaiah) that they are precious, honored and loved. The people were probably feeling terrible because they were living in exile. There was grief, loss, poverty, and a sense of alienation. Into that place of brokenness, God offers words of compassion.
In Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament), the words Isaiah used were yaqar (precious), kabad (honored) and ahab (loved). You are precious. You are honored. You are loved.
We don’t always feel precious, honored and loved. The original audience of Isaiah likely didn’t feel the truth of God’s words either. But what if we just keep saying them to ourselves anyway? On days when we feel like it, and on days when we don’t. Transformation happens in repetition. Precious, honored and loved. These aren’t your feelings; they are your identity.
This message was excerpted from the August 2018 Cafe article by Emily Anne Carson, “Our identity: precious, honored, loved.” Today we remember Francis Xavier, missionary to Asia, who died in 1552. On this day, Jews celebrate Hanukkah.
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