1. Introduction to Series: The Ultimate Selfie

When was the last time you bought something with a stick-on price tag, got it home, and found out how almost impossible it is to get that price tag off? You soaked it, you rubbed it, you used fingernail polish remover and still a sticky residue remained.

That’s the way we often feel about ourselves when our surroundings (people, events, media) put labels upon us. They’re difficult to remove.

This series, The Ultimate Selfie: Seeing Yourself as You Really Are  will help you who struggle with self-image, because of society’s labels, to see your true worth,  which is stamped upon your soul by your Creator before you were born. His marks say “priceless” “precious” “immeasurable” no matter what the world tells you. That tag is impossible to remove but it can definitely be pasted over with something far different from what God thinks of you.

The word “selfie” entered our vocabulary in 2010, when Apple introduced the iPhone4 with a front-facing camera. By 2013, the word entered the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and became the Word of the Year. After that, selfie sticks and apps developed ways to take selfies closer, remotely, with higher quality. As quickly as this phenom happened, social media sprinted to the forefront and gave selfies multiple platforms on which to display them to the whole world.

Now selfies have developed four purposes on social media: to show the world 1) how we look, 2) who we’re with, 3) where we’ve been, or 4) what we’ve accomplished. These will be explored throughout this series related to our opinions of ourselves.

It is estimated that over 1 million selfies are taken every day worldwide and the numbers will climb as the younger generation gets older and takes their technology with them. But this group is not the only ones taking selfies and posting them on social media. We Baby Boomers are following suit. Yes, I’m a Baby Boomer!

You may think that I can’t relate to those of you who are younger. It’s possible, because of my age, that I can’t address your specific issue, because things change. Culture changes. Technology and, therefore, pastimes change. However, human nature hasn’t changed. We still tend to think of ourselves first and foremost. That means that all generations have more in common than we might think.

Let me stop and say right here that every generation has had labels that were supposed to define everyone in that age group. Although trends do happen, it is not a hard and fast rule that you will act and react and believe a certain way just because of your age. In fact, we’ll look back and see that there were other “me generations” before us and there will be those after us. The reason for the backward glance and the reason for this blog is to address the age-old question “Who am I?” truthfully—biblically.

So be willing to peel off the world’s label, even if it will take some work, and start seeing yourself as God sees you. Again, His label is indelible, so rip off the others that have been applied to you and see what is there that cannot be erased.

Some of the scripture quotes herein will be from The Message which is a modern wording of the Bible that, I think, will help the timeless trusts come alive. The other scripture translations are noted throughout.

At the end of every blog, you’ll find questions you can ask yourself.

Write down your answers if you like or share them with others.