The good news of the gospel invites us to speak only what God has spoken—affirming His declaration that His creation, and especially the renewed creation within us, is “very good” (2 Corinthians 5:17). It urges us to boast exclusively in Christ, to live from the deep, settled truth that our identity, freedom, and victory are already secured in the eternal counsel of the Triune God. Our true foundation is not found in our efforts, our images, or our self-made attempts to define ourselves, but in God’s unchanging Word—a steadfast, unshakeable reality that transforms our understanding of who we are and what our place is within His glorious design. Every thought we entertain shapes an image—an internal portrait of ourselves and others—that influences how we see and relate to reality. In modern times, we are especially skilled at constructing these mental pictures, employing what we call “knowledge of human nature” as our artistic brush. But no matter how carefully we craft these images, they distort the true picture. We often fall into the misconception that true godliness is found in suffering—mistaking pain or hardship for the ultimate mark of conformity to Christ—thus settling for lower expectations and diminishing the victorious confidence that Scripture affirms for us. We cannot completely detach our lived experience from the images through which we view Christ; the inward portraits we carry shape the fabric of our Christian walk. We speak as if we stand apart, observing different perspectives—each with fragments of truth—that somehow come together into a complete picture. But in doing so, we risk reducing faith to an intellectual puzzle—just an accumulation of ideas that, if we assemble correctly, might secure hope. Yet, the human heart longs for acceptance and affirmation, and this longing often weakens the radical truth of our new creation in Christ. Our true starting point must be to behold God Himself: Who is He? How vast and glorious is His being? What has He declared about us? The serpent’s first temptation, “Has God indeed said…?” (Genesis 3:1), revealed this fundamental fracture—our tendency to doubt God’s word and to redefine good and evil based on our own understanding. God’s original creation—everything He declared “very good” (Genesis 1:31)—stands in stark contrast to human presumption. Instead of echoing His divine verdict, humanity chose to pronounce its own authority, reinterpreting good and evil apart from divine decree. Some suggest that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil held mystical power that drew humans away from God, as if the act of choosing was a battle between equal forces of good and evil. But if there is no real, ontological difference—if evil is not a genuine opposing force—then the biblical concept of a true choice is compromised. A genuine choice involves God’s sovereign permission for His creatures to experience and delight in what He has already declared good, giving us the freedom to embrace His sovereignty fully. Scripture makes this clear: God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11), and He declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). Nothing occurs outside His decree (as summarized in the Westminster Confession 3.1). He has provided sufficient authority and power to stand firm against the enemy (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:10–18), and He has already defeated evil’s ultimate power (Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:10). Despite this, we often prefer to live in illusions—believing that we are balanced on a delicate edge, free to choose obedience or disobedience at will. We resist the confidence that comes from knowing our destiny is secured in His eternal plan; instead, we cling to uncertain images of ourselves, constantly negotiating between conflicting influences rather than resting in His declared verdict. Many around us try to diminish our confidence rooted in Christ, suggesting that the realities of heaven—so high and sacred—are beyond our reach. But the truth is, our struggle is not with the realities themselves, but with the distorted images we hold of them. Few people, in genuine serenity, boast solely in Christ—whose lives quietly testify to the sufficiency of His victory (Galatians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 10:17). Instead, the culture of religion around us often suppresses the divine call to wholehearted worship—both spiritual and physical (Romans 12:1; Psalm 150:6). Too often, we are taught that our full experience of salvation is a distant promise, and in the present, we are merely enduring toil and suffering. We subtly glorify hardship, describing ourselves as “bound by the flesh,” or rely on familiar images of inner struggle—like the “good dog versus bad dog” metaphor—weakening the confident hope that Scripture urges us to hold onto.