In Matthew 22, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and others who were trying to trap Jesus in his speech. They asked Jesus if they should pay their government taxes. Jesus asked them to look at the coin and tell Him whose image they saw. They replied, “Caesar’s.” So Jesus said, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” This banter has been made famous for many reasons, but there really is a follow up question to this.

Go look in a mirror. Whose image do you see?

The bible teaches us that we were made in the image of Almighty God. Just like a self portrait of a great artist, you are a reflection of God and His likeness. One bible translation even says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s masterpiece. Just like any masterpiece, you are one of a kind. Not a duplicate or a carbon copy, but a single work of art.

This is what makes us special. The creator of the heavens and earth also made you. It’s not about your name, your job, or your good or bad deeds. You are special because of whose you are; whose image you are endowed with. That’s why it’s so important to take care of yourself. Your Father in Heaven made the person you see in the mirror. If He wanted you to be someone else, He would have made someone else. Be proud of who you are.

You can’t make something without putting a piece of yourself into it and that’s just what God has done with you. The bible says that God formed man and “breathed into him the breath of life, and thus man became a living being.” The very seeds of greatness and the power that created everything also courses through your veins as well, so much so that we have been allowed by God to enter into His creative power in order to bring new life into this world. New life that, just like you, has been created to know God, love God, and serve God so that we may be happy with Him in Heaven for all of eternity.

Don’t give up on yourself, because when you do, you are giving up on your Creator. God is perfect and although we are definitely not perfect, we are on the road to that perfection that is allowed to us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rest assured that the Creator has a plan and that plan includes you. Not who you think maybe you should be, but YOU!

Next time you are concerned with your inward and outward appearance, know that you were born the child of a king. Be cheerful in the image that you see in the mirror, because when you look at yourself, the eyes of God look back at you.

DH