Although you may shake your head and smile, my story is not so unique. Every day, each one of us is presented with the opportunity to don a pair of tainted “goggles” through which you will view the world. The goggles are comfortable, and it feels natural when you slip them on. Most of the time, we don’t even realize that we’re wearing them. And yet, they will drastically affect the way that you perceive everything around you, including yourself.

If you’re beautiful—if your skin is flawless and your figure perfect—you have worth. If you’re successful and popular, you have value. If you do not…your life has no meaning.

Such is the world’s message to us. Is it any wonder that most girls struggle with feelings of inferiority? Statistics show that teen suicide rates have literally tripled since 1970. And in the United States alone, conservative estimates suggest that five to ten million girls and women are currently struggling with some kind of eating disorder. As Christians, we are not exempt from these attacks of the enemy. Although many of us may never go to these extremes, if we are honest, we’ll admit that we are susceptible to the exact same kind of thinking that leads to these problems. In a sense, we’re looking through the distorted lenses of colored goggles.

Why? Why is this such an issue in our culture? The answer is strikingly simple. We have bought into the lie of the world—that our worth comes from ourselves. And so, even in Christian circles, we tend to try to combat these problems with bigger boosts of self-esteem. However, this is not the solution. Isaiah 64:6 reads, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Apart from God, we have absolutely no merit. None.

And yet, the situation is not hopeless! While we were in our sinful, helpless state, God's love for us was so great that He sent His precious son, Jesus, to die a brutal death in our place. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we sere still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We must look at ourselves the way that God does. What does He see when He looks at you? Romans 8:39 triumphantly proclaims: "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"! God values you so much that He sent his Son to die in your stead-- and He promises that nothing will ever be able to separate you from His love. Such is God's heart towards you! The estimation of our worth must come from God alone. It is only His perception of us that matters, and no other.

Let us take of the colored goggles of our ungodly culture, and strive to see ourselves the way God does.