Welcome to
Zion Bread of Life Christian Church

Sunday, 8th October 2023

Pastor Kathy Poon

Let us ask ourselves, do we find it hard to admit our own mistakes? Do we easy to have a victim mindset? Do we care a lot about of people love us or not? Do we find it hard to love others? Do we easy to lose self confidence? Do we find it hard to express ourselves? All these are traits of people who don’t have a healthy self-image. We might grow in a health family, we might be praised a lot since we were little, but so often, because of the praises, we are afraid of disappointing our parents.

The biggest reason for a twisted self-image, is how we interpret people’s opinions about us. We will feel powerless when we preach the Gospel because we cannot take no for an answer. We are easily offended and discouraged, because we have a twisted self-image. We need to have a healthy self-image so we can walk further for God.

Why is it so important to have a healthy self-image?

1. Self-acceptance itself is a perspective and ability

2. It affects our achievements and influential powers (Galatians 5:14)

3. It affects how we treat ourselves (Proverbs 23:7a)

If we don’t know how to love ourselves, how would we know how to love others? Embracing Father’s love is for us to go back to being children, this is God’s Great Commandments for us, which comes before the Great Commission. We must see ourselves with the right perception, so we wouldn’t always feel discouraged. Having the right perception for ourselves is also about setting the right boundaries for ourselves.

So how to have and move towards a health self-image?

1. What is a self-image?

(I) Self-evaluation and perception

(II) Indicators of health

A. Have accurate understanding of ourselves

B. Fully affirm our self-worth

C. Keep a positive outlook

D. Always feel content and happy

E. Have specific life goals

Self-image is not about how we look or how much we have. But it’s about our own self-evaluation and perception. How do we see ourselves is not about people’s opinions about us. We know who we are and we are happy with who we are. It does not matter what people say or think about us. We must see ourselves not better than we should or not worse than we should. Do we know the image God created us to be is the best gift God gave to us?

Also we must have a positive attitude towards everything that comes to us. Can we learn to stay positive in every situation? It’s never about others or the environment, but it’s about our mindset. When we have a positive self-image, then we will know what we want in life and we will have positive goals towards our lives.

The most influential people regarding our self-image are our parents. Their words and their attitude towards our actions will influence how we see ourselves.