Recently I have been reading “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey. My fiancé had been telling me how he read this book years ago, and it changed his life. This intrigued me, so I downloaded it on Kindle. It has also changed my outlook. I was a little skeptical at first, wondering if he would incorporate phycology, and try to change the way I look at the Lord. He didn’t. As I read, it became clear that Covey was a Christian, and his faith and knowledge of the bible were behind his principles, for the most part. The book has not changed my perspective on the Lord, but it has changed my perception of myself.
I have started to see that I have held a very negative perception of myself, but not in the way that psychology would have me think. I know I have a sin nature, and I’m not all that good, at heart. But that is beside the point. I am still a daughter of the king, and that knowledge, joined with the knowledge that apart from Christ, I’m just a vile sinner, led me to this–the truth of the knowledge that I am a daughter of The King, reveals how much He values me, and in His opinion, the only opinion that matters, I have worth, and I am a joint-heir with Christ, and all that is His, is mine. If Christ be for me (and He is) who can be against me? No one. People’s opinions cease to matter. Nevertheless, the knowledge that I am merely a vile sinner, apart from Christ, keeps me from the pride that might accompany the knowledge that I am a child of the King, and all that goes with that.
Reading Seven Habits made me realize one glaring fact–I have let people’s perception of me define me. The Holy Spirit said to me once, many years ago–“You are not who others say you are–you are who I say you are.” Old patterns take a long time to break at times, and I have been slow to learn this in my heart. When I read Seven Habits, it brought this back to my memory. I am who the Lord says I am, and I don’t need to let people’s opinions have power over me anymore. I realized that I have been letting other people have too much power over me. Also, I can rise above storms and evil circumstances, because I am a child of the King. And if you are a Christian, if you know Jesus in a personal way, than so can you, because you are a child of the King also.
Song of Solomon 9:8-10
We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
The “older brothers” in these verses are not speaking well of the “little sister” the words are intended to be insulting, to convey the idea that she is immature and not much to look at (no breasts) and useless as neither a wall or a door. A wall keeps things out, and a door admits things. So they may be saying she doesn’t have the sense to know good from evil?
But the “little sister” rejects their opinions, and chooses to see herself as the bridegroom sees her. “I in His eyes as one that found favour.” And his opinion is the only one that matters.
Another thing that the book talks about was having a personal mission statement, that reflects your revealed purpose, that the Lord alone can reveal to you. Writing it down serves as a reminder of your purpose here on earth, and how the Lord wants to fulfill it. I will share mine in the next post. In the meantime, here is a song that I feel fits the mood of this post:
“When I call on Jesus” by Nicole C. Mullen
Well in the Wilderness 
Sometimes surprising what the Lord can use to speak to us.
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