Have you been told that you are worthless, ugly, no good, and will never amount to anything? Has it caused feelings of loneliness, depression, and even self-hatred?
Christian Life/Spiritual Growth
Have you been told that you are worthless, ugly, no good, and will never amount to anything? Has it caused feelings of loneliness, depression, and even self-hatred? With all the mixed messages from society, and social media, seeing oneself as perfectly normal has become a personal struggle.
Stop allowing others to validate you, due to your socioeconomic background, weight, race, class, and gender. God has called you out for so much more. See yourself, in a better, more positive light. Come out of the darkness, into God’s marvelous light, so that you can see that God has created you perfectly normal.
Excerpt
Introduction
If you would just take a moment out of your busy schedule to watch and observe the people that you come in contact with from day to day, you might see that many of them are suffering with depression, an identity crisis, and/or weight issues. You do not have to be a psychologist to realize that something has gone terribly wrong in the world in which you live in. More than ever, people are confused as to who they are and what is considered to be beautiful. Even the television shows and magazines are consumed with issues of this nature. You see what the world wants you to see and feel about yourself. You have been programmed and brainwashed into the world’s system of beauty.
Drug addicts and alcoholics in Hollywood are setting false examples of what real beauty is, when in reality, most of them are not happy with who they are. If they were, rehabilitation centers would not be accepting them at an alarming rate.
We have allowed celebrities that are breaking the law, driving drunk, having babies out of wedlock, engaging in high profile infidelity, pill popping, and getting intoxicated to set the standards of beauty for us. Has anyone taken notice? These are the things that are captivating our young impressionable kids. They are growing up in a society that cares more about their rib cages showing through their skin than looking healthy and fit. These are the images that our children are being exposed to everyday, and we wonder why they are dying to be someone they were never created to be. What they see when they are looking at their favorite celebrities are those who are starving themselves with unsuccessful fad diets or causing themselves to vomit so they can fit into a size zero.
Society has become overly obsessed with self-image until it has resulted in people taking extreme measures to be perfect and to meet standards that are unobtainable. In the past, it appeared as though women were the only ones that struggled with a low self-image, but today men are quickly following behind them.
God created us perfectly normal? We are beautiful just the way we are. True, we all want to better ourselves or to change something about our appearances. Although as we grow in Christ, change is expected of us, that change is inward.
God loves your big hips, your thick or thin lips, your straight or nappy hair, big or small body frame, and white or black, red or yellow complexion. He loves you. You are His creation, His masterpiece, designed for His pleasure and enjoyment. God did not waste His time when He sculptured and molded you in His image. So, why have you allowed man to tell you that you are less than God’s best?
But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God very own— all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it. (I Peter 2:9-10, TLB)
Do not allow people to make you feel as though you are nothing. God has called you out to be so much more— more than what you could ever imagine for yourself. When people try to make you feel small and unimportant, know that such is a lie of Satan’s tricks. He uses those who are closest to you to make you look at yourself in a negative way. Whatever negative comments people make about you and your appearance, remember that God said, “You are not like that.” He sees the beauty and the potential that lies beneath the poor self-image that you have of yourself. When God called you a royal priesthood, He wanted you to know what you are worth to Him. He has chosen you to be the peculiar one—strange to the world, but unique to Him.
Your thinning hairline and rolls on your belly are no accident to God. He knew what He wanted you to look like before you were born. He did not plan on everyone looking exactly the same. You are skipping meals and over exercising to fit an image that someone else has chosen for you. Each time you look into the mirror at yourself, you sink further and further into depression. In your mind, you feel that you do not measure up to everyone else. If the truth be told, no one measures up to man’s standards, and neither does the man or woman who set those unobtainable standards.
We are a society that has become consumed with beauty and perfection until we have forgotten who the only perfect one really is —Jesus. No one will ever top the perfect Lamb of God. We may snip, tuck and clip parts of our body; but we will never reach perfection, as long as we live here on earth.
Measure your self-worth and beauty by God’s standards. Man standards will cause you to have low self-esteem issues and feelings of inadequacy. It may cause you to have suicidal thoughts. But the person that sees him or herself as God does sees him as beautiful even though they may have flaws. Their imperfection does not control the way they see themselves.
You are a diamond in the rough. There is no one exactly like you. The mold was broken when you were created. Stop allowing others to define who you are. Only when you see yourself as God sees you, will you love the image staring back at you in the mirror. You will never embrace your beauty or uniqueness until you believe that you are created perfectly normal according to God’s standards.
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