There is a wonderful little poem entitled The Guy in the Glass that was written by Dale Wimbrow and first published in American Magazine in 1934. It goes as follows:

The Guy in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,

And the world makes you King for a day,

Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.

The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life

Is the guy staring back from the glass.

You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum,

And think you're a wonderful guy,

But the man in the glass says you're only a bum

If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,

And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

And get pats on the back as you pass,

But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

(Further details about the author and the poem can be found on www.theguyintheglass.com)

The glorious message of the gospel is that whatever your past may have been, or however many negative thoughts you may think about yourself, Jesus can change all that. He offers total forgiveness and a fresh start. He can begin changing you from the inside out so that you begin to feel OK, if not with that person you are, at least with the person you are becoming. He can develop your potential and give you a ministry to others that gives you a sense that your life is counting for something that will last. He will give you the assurance that one day his work on you will be complete and that you will know the greatest joy possible as you serve and worship him in his eternal kingdom.

I like good stories. I will finish with three of them. The first was told by Bill Young, a prison worker in Auckland, in Challenge weekly. He had met a bank robber whose father, a policeman, had tossed him a penny and told him, "This is you. You are the original bad penny and it's all you will ever be worth." Bill says:

That happened to my friend when he was 15 and after that he was in and out of every prison in New Zealand and Australia for the next 20 years. But one day he gave me the penny, which I now have mounted in my office - he told me he didn't need it any more and today that man has gone straight.

The second story is told by Ernest Jealous in his book Gold in the Morning Sun. It is the story of Ralph Webster. He was a young man, very strong and daring, with a reputation many envied. But he had lived for ill-gotten gain, enjoying the excitement of wits criminally pitted against society, law and authority. One day he stood in court as the magistrate said to him, "I have listened with much sorrow to this record of your life, and I've come to the conclusion that you are a piece of wasted humanity: you must go to prison again..."

Though he was proud of the fact that they had never managed to cow him by these repeated prison sentences, on this occasion those words "a piece of wasted humanity" burned themselves into his soul. He came out of prison in a more serious frame of mind and then he heard the message of the gospel-"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him" (1 Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 7:25). And Ralph Webster came. He prayed; he wept-and the iron door of his heart opened to the love of God, as flowers open to the sun. He knew he was waste no longer.

The change in his life was radical. His companions were now the people of God, and, whereas he had carried such evil into the daily life of the neighbourhood, he now carried the grace of Christ. People who had once scorned him came to respect him for the integrity of his public and private life. He became a preacher of the gospel and a successful businessman. Before many years he had a lovely home in the same road as the magistrate who had sent him to prison and they became friends. One of his delights was to open his home to the evangelists of the Open-Air Mission of London and join them in telling the crowds on the racecourse "how great things the Lord had done for him" when they came for their race-week campaign.

One day the magistrate fell ill. It was serious; he knew that he was approaching the end of life's journey. Feeling the need of spiritual counsel, he sent a message, "Would Mr. Webster come up to the house and pray with me?" It was some time later, in the privacy of the sickroom that Ralph Webster had the joy of leading to Christ the very magistrate who, in committing him to prison, had once described him as a piece of wasted humanity.

The third story is told by Bob Gass, Georgia, U.S.A. It was told to him by a pastor, Clinton White. It concerns a remarkable man, a black surgeon in New York. This man told Clinton that he once suffered from ghetto-head! He described it as;

the oldest disease in my race. I was born in a ghetto! Despair was my constant companion; every day it told me the system is stacked against you. I'm one of 13 children. We lived on the fifth floor of a run down tenement. The street I played in was full of pushers, pimps, and prostitutes; men died old in their 20s of drug overdoses.

But something happened to me. One Saturday morning, alone in our apartment, listening to the 'Top 20' on the radio, a minister came on and read words of Psalm 118:5, "I called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me." I couldn't stop listening! That day I discovered two things-God was bigger than any problem I had, and I was not a prisoner of my circumstances, only a prisoner of my attitude. When he gave the invitation, I knelt in that dingy apartment and committed my life to Christ. I was only 14 years old, but that's the day my life began.

He graduated from medical school the top of his class and today is one of the most respected surgeons in the North-East. He told Clinton: "Every day, before making my hospital rounds, I fill my mind with God's word. Therefore, I never approach patients feeling hopeless, for I now know what God can do for them!" Many of his patients have not needed his surgical skills. They've been healed when he prayed for them.

The kind of self-esteem we have been talking about is one where you know you have been totally forgiven and fully accepted by the God who planned your existence. It involves a growing awareness of your infinite value to him. It is a self-esteem that enables you to accept unashamedly your strengths and weaknesses, and your capabilities. It includes an awareness that God is transforming you from the inside out and the assurance that one day you will be everything that God has planned and all that you could desire. It invites the challenge that, now being comfortable with yourself, you can now focus your attention on God's purpose for your life and how best you can do your bit to meet the many needs that you will find in the world around you.

If this is the kind of self-esteem you are looking for, then a good place to start would be to talk to God about it. You could well begin by praying a prayer along these lines:

God, I want to thank you because, in your magnificent work of creating this universe, you thought of me. You know all about me; my successes and failures, what my gifts are, how my life can count for something meaningful and lasting, and where I fit in to your forever family.

I accept that Jesus died on the cross for my sins to reconcile me to God, because of his great love for me. I thank him for that.

I am sorry for my sins. I repent of them. I now accept your forgiveness and submit my life to Jesus as my Saviour and Lord.

Come into my life and begin the process of moulding me into all you planned that I should be and directing me in the path you have chosen for me.

Enable me to accept fully all that you have done for me and to be open to all that you want to do. In doing so, give me a love for you and for others that will enable me to look outwards rather than being absorbed with myself and my own needs.

Give me the courage and strength to live worthily of your love and to follow wherever you lead, until that day when I shall stand in your presence and be fully satisfied with all that you have made me.

Amen.

If this should be a new decision for you, then get a good modern translation of the Bible and begin reading though the New Testament asking God to reveal more of himself and his plan for your life. Find a Christian fellowship where you can receive and give encouragement to others on the same journey.

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour me."

Psalm 50:15