When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Most days, we’re tempted to see ourselves through the world’s lens: flawed, not enough, falling short. We feel pressure to do more. Be more. Prove ourselves. And for what? To keep up with unrealistic expectations? To compare ourselves to the world around us? To scroll in search of validation, hoping to be seen, known, and loved, even if only for a moment?
Child, you are already loved. And God absolutely delights in you.
This is the heart of 1 Corinthians 6. The Apostle Paul is reminding us who we are and whose we are—beloved children of God.
In this letter, Paul calls out the destructive patterns that had taken root in the early church: how they treated one another, dishonored their bodies, and looked to the world for peace and justice. Sound familiar?
Paul offers the early church—and you and me today—a better way. He reminds us that we have been cleansed, we have been made holy, we have been made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
You are not your own. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, given to you by God (v. 19). You belong to Jesus, and that truth changes everything.
We are not called to be perfect. We are called to be transformed. God’s amazing grace doesn’t just save us; it renews our hearts and minds. We are loved, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and called to reflect God’s goodness in a fallen, broken, and messed-up world.
So, the next time you look in the mirror, pause and delight in who God has called you to be. Don’t just see what the world sees. See how God sees you: a beloved child, bought at a price, called to live differently.
Reflection:
- When you look in the mirror, what do you see? What thoughts and/or identities rise to the surface?
- What would it mean today to live as someone who is bought at a price and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit?
- Are there ways you have been living by the world’s standards instead of how God has called you to live?