SPEAKING TRUTH: Do you like who you are?

Do you like who you are?

I am sure all of us wish we could change a few things about ourselves. Even the most beautiful or handsome among us.

But I am asking something deeper. Do you so dislike some things about yourself that you are willing to go to great lengths to change yourself?

Whoever is walking through such feelings is not alone. Many are traveling this path.

This goes beyond feelings though. This is about who someone really is, and where they came from.

I am not talking about their family. Large numbers of people come from difficult homes. They may have had a single parent, raised by their grandparents, or have been abused.

I want to go back further than their family.

Let us go back to where all of us have come from. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Genesis 1:26,27-28)

This is where you and I have come from.

We have been created by Almighty God. Before you were born, you were fashioned together by Him. You are not a product of science or biology, but a miracle of the one who fills the universe with His presence.

He made you a man or woman, and did not make a mistake.

Sometimes it can feel like He did when we look at other people and compare, listen to the hurtful words of others or the destructive voices in our own mind.

Here is the truth. You were made by the one who sits as King of the Earth on His throne in heaven.

What is the evidence of this?

You were made in God’s image and the imprint of His likeness is upon you. Where does your laugh come from? Your ability to love, gain knowledge, be creative, show kindness and a host of other things?

All from God.

This is who He is and He gave some of His likeness to each of us along with physical life.

For it is not just your heart, blood and brain that keeps you going.

Ultimately, it was God’s Spirit that breathed life in you to make you live. And one day, that life will be withdrawn from you upon death.

Even though we are a wonderful creation of God, there is something not right. Something is amiss.

Each one of us is born with a bent toward disobeying our Creator.

The bent is called sin. It has touched everything God has created in us and corrupted it.

We love, but only certain people. We gain knowledge, but it may not be good or edifying. We are creative, but not in always creating honorable things.

And sometimes this corruption shows itself in the rejection of what God has made – ourselves.

This is the root of why we often want to change who we are.

Instead of giving God thanks for how He made us and loving ourselves just as we are, we condemn ourselves and want to change what God has made.

God is not pleased when we reject what He has made and called it good.

What is the answer?

God sent His only Son to rid us of this internal brokenness.

If we turn from our disobedience and to God by faith, we will instantly become a new person. Then the separation between us and God will be bridged. You will be one with the God who made you, and finally see yourself through His eyes.

A prayer for you: “Lord God, I pray for those who look at themselves and want to change who they are. Open their eyes to see how they were created by you. Help them to see how there is a corruption within them causing all this. Bring them to turn from their sin, and to faith in Christ. Then lift the veil of darkness so they can see and be made new by the light of Jesus. In His name. Amen.”

Clint Decker is President of Great Awakenings. Please share your comment with Clint at cdecker@greatawakenings.org and follow his blog at clintdecker.blogspot.com.