Accepted
“For we are God’s workmanship [His own master work], created in Christ Jesus…”
Ephesians 2:10 (AMPC)
Sometimes the hardest person to believe in is ourselves.
We carry labels shaped by failure, comparison, or expectations, things we said, things others said, or the quiet narratives we repeat in our own minds. We become experts at seeing where we fall short, but beginners at seeing ourselves through Jesus's eyes.
The Word of God tells a different story.
When Jesus looked at people, He rarely saw only what they were at the moment. He saw what grace was shaping them into.
He looked at Simon Peter, impulsive and unstable, and called him “rock.” Not because Peter had already become steady, but because Jesus saw what love and formation would accomplish.
He saw Zacchaeus hiding in a tree and called him down by name, not to shame him but to sit at his table. Before transformation, there was belonging.
Jesus was the only one in the synagogue who could cast the stone at the woman caught in adultery and shame. He offered truth without condemnation: “Neither do I condemn you… go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)
Grace and truth moving together.
Again and again, Jesus reveals that identity comes before instruction. Love precedes change.
This is the heart of living coram Deo, before the face of God. It means learning to live with the awareness that we are already fully seen and deeply loved.
The temptation is to believe we must become someone else before God can use us. But the Gospel says the opposite: transformation begins when we receive how He already sees us.
In the beginning, God formed humanity from dust and breathed life into them. Before there were achievements or failures, there was a relationship—a covenant.
Later, Israel wandered through wilderness spaces, learning that dependence was not punishment but formation.
Then Jesus came — the Word made flesh — showing us that God does not love from a distance.
He walks with people, eats with them, listens, restores, and patiently reshapes hearts over time.
The pattern is clear: God meets people where they are, then walks with them toward who they are becoming.
To be who Jesus sees you as is not to become perfect overnight. It is to become honest, surrendered, and open to being loved.
It means:
receiving grace before striving,
trusting His pace of growth,
letting His voice become louder than comparison.
Parable:
A craftsman invited an apprentice into his workshop.
The apprentice spent his days staring into a small, cracked mirror hanging on the wall. The mirror distorted everything, making flaws seem larger and strengths smaller. Each day, he sighed and said, “I don’t look like someone you could use.”
The craftsman took the apprentice over to a mirror covered by a cloth and uncovered it.
This mirror was clear and bright, reflecting not only the apprentice’s face but the light of the room around him.
"You've been looking into a broken mirror,” the craftsman said gently. “You keep judging yourself through lenses that were never meant to tell you the truth about who you are.”
The apprentice looked again and saw something different, not perfection, but possibility.
The craftsman smiled.
“I do not work with finished things,” he said. “I work with things that stay in My hands.”
And the apprentice finally understood: his future was not defined by how he saw himself, but by who was shaping him.
Prayer:
Jesus,
Teach me to see myself through Your eyes.
Quiet the voices that tell me I must prove my worth.
Help me receive Your grace before I try to earn it.
Shape me patiently into who You created me to be.
Let my life reflect Your presence as I walk before You each day.
Amen.
Live this today:
Where am I currently defining myself by failure, comparison, or performance rather than by God’s love?
Which Scripture story today reflects my current season most closely, Peter, Zacchaeus, or someone else? Why?
What would change this week if I truly believed Jesus sees me with grace and purpose?
Where might God be inviting me to stay in His hands rather than rush my growth?
