The hit TV show “Ted Lasso” is the story of an American football head coach hired to coach a Premier League soccer team from England – even though he knew very little about soccer.
In one of the early episodes, he asked the talented, but vain and vacuous star of the team a question he had been asking of all the players: “Would you rather be a lion or a panda?”
“I’m me, coach,” the young superstar replied. “Why would I want to be anything else?”
The coach smiled. “I don’t think you understand how psychologically healthy that response was.”
Lately, I don’t like looking at the man in the mirror. The unrelenting march of time is taking its toll.
Wrinkles. Gray hairs. Love handles.
But it goes deeper than that. I have long struggled with the man in the mirror.
The sins. The scars. The fears and self-doubt.
Most of us don’t struggle to find things we dislike about ourselves.
In Psalm 139, King David doesn’t seem burdened with such insecurities.
He wrote, “I praise you [God] because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
To be clear, when David said that he was “fearfully made,” he wasn’t saying that God had made him fearful – anxious and afraid, worrying and wondering if he was good enough.
He also wasn’t saying that God had made him frightening. His appearance wasn’t hideous. He didn’t instill terror in others.
When David said he was “fearfully made,” he meant that God had made him in a way that inspires awe and wonder. David looked at how God had created him and could only say, “That was awesome!”
But David was no narcissist. He wasn’t vainly denying his shortcomings. He was marveling at how amazingly God has created us.
The human body is a marvelous machine. Your heart beats without being told. Your lungs draw breath while you sleep. Your body turns food into strength, fights infection, heals wounds, and carries you through life. Your mind can imagine, remember, reason, laugh, grieve, repent, and love.
And then God made billions of us – each one unique, each one gifted with varying personalities and talents, each one special to God.
You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Your body is a marvel of divine engineering. Your soul was created to last forever.
Yes, you are stained with sin. You make mistakes. You have weaknesses and foibles.
But you were so precious to the God who created all things that he entered our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. He took your place. He suffered your punishment. He redeemed you with his blood. At your baptism, he chose you. He adopted you as his precious son or daughter.
It isn’t vanity to recognize how amazingly God has made you or how special you are. God gets all the credit. But when we tear ourselves down – when we complain about how God has made us – when we despise the man in the mirror, we are telling God that he somehow made a mistake.
You are the result of divine engineering. You are the crown of God’s creation. You are a baptized son or daughter of the King of the universe.
Pastor Andrew Schroer has been a pastor for over 25 years and is currently serving at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Edna, Texas. You can find his latest books, “364 Days of Thanksgiving” and “364 Days of Devotion,” on Amazon.com.
