The Way WE Think of Ourselves vs. God's

I heard a couple of things this week from 2 different people I wanted to relate - Do you think you are worthless in God's eyes or that he has decided you are not good enough?

"As regards whatever our hearts may condemn us in, ...God is greater than our hearts and knows all things." 1 John 3:20

That word, condemn, in the original Greek carries the meaning of "sentencing to death" -so while WE may in essence sentence ourselves to death because of the way WE are thinking about ourselves or the way WE have decided what Jehovah must think of us, Jehovah says he is greater than our hearts - that he sees or knows us differently.

Our feelings come from our thoughts. We would agree that our thoughts of ourselves, because of imperfection and many times because of the things we may have suffered and impacted us growing up, are not accurate - Jehovah's thoughts or perceptions of us, however, would always be accurate. So a short way of saying the same thing is that the way Jehovah perceives us is not the way WE perceive ourselves.

We are told that, "No man can come to me unless the Father draws him." John 6:44. The fact that you were drawn to the truth reveals that Jehovah looked at you and saw desirable, good things about you. Otherwise he would not have drawn you. The word drawn in this scripture carries the thought of there being resistance with it though. When the apostles were trying to catch fish all night and nothing happened, and then Jesus made the nets full, the scripture used that same word of "drawing" in the nets, that they were so heavy that there was resistance. So the idea is that Jehovah looked at YOU, saw/sees the good in you that you cannot even see and wants you, draws you, even if there is resistance - even if that resistance is because of the way WE think of ourselves.

And what if we fall, lose faith, take a misstep? Is is over? "For the righteous one may fall even seven times, and he will certainly get up . . " This point of seven times is an idiom in Hebrew for "often". The point is that the righteous fall. Often.
But you can get up. You can get up because even though you are lying there thinking, perceiving yourself as being condemned, sentenced to death - the way Jehovah perceives you is not that way.

In the bible reading this week, Samson compromises his faith and pays a very heavy price. Interestingly, he is listed in Hebrews 11 as a an example of faith. When we look at Samson or maybe when Samson looked at himself, all he could see was the negative. But that is not the way Jehovah looked at him. He is listed as a man of faith, not a man of compromise. Jehovah sees the good - just like you.