The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Seeing Ourselves as God Sees Us

Look long enough into the eyes of our Savior and, there too, you will see a bride. Dressed in fine linen. Clothed in pure grace. From the wreath in her hair to the clouds at her feet, she is royal. She is the princess. She is the bride. His bride. Walking toward him, she is not yet with him. But he sees her; he awaits her; he longs for her.

“Who could bear to live without her?” you hear him whisper.

And who is that bride? Who is this beauty who occupies the heart of Jesus?

It is not nature. He loves his creation and creation groans to be with him, but he never called creation his bride.

It is not his angels. His angels are ever present to worship and serve him, but he never called the heavenly beings his bride.

Then who? Who is this bride about whom Jesus speaks and for whom Jesus longs? Who is this maiden who has captured the heart of God’s Son?

You are. You have captured the heart of God. “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isa 62:5).

The challenge is to remember that. To meditate on it. To focus on it. To allow his love to change the way you look at you.

Do you ever feel unnoticed? New clothes and styles may help for a while. But if you want permanent change, learn to see yourself as God sees you: “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (61:10).

What does it mean to you that God rejoices over you?

Taken from the NIV Lucado Encouraging Word Bible.