Being who we ARE

For years, I've had an issue with self-esteem. Just being honest. With that, comes a skewed perspective of yourself. With that, comes constantly viewing yourself as less than adequate in many areas (Do I look ok? Have I been too brash? etc.) And the big thing was that I used to make fun of myself for a laugh! I thought it was cool, because I still got a laugh. Once I realized that I was doing it so much, I started to learn a little bit about who I am now and who I am supposed to be...

Does anyone feel like we dog on ourselves and each other in the body of Christ way too much? Sometimes I feel that way, and I've noticed it recently a lot more around other believers. Bible College has completely changed my way of thinking about a lot of things, and this is one of them.

This summer, I worked at a church called the Pursuit. This name has just stuck with me because of this: It describes God's actions! This is what God has been actively doing since the Fall, working to finally bring about redemption for His people and give Himself the most glory doing it...

If that's the case throughout Scripture, then people are valuable. If people are valuable, they need to be shown love that they don't deserve in the first place. If we show love to those who don't deserve it...what an amazing things that will do for His name and the salvation of the non-believer and the sanctification of the believer.

What an amazing thought to think through...How does my personal behavior reflect Christ? Do I see myself as valuable in the sight of God? If you don't, you are wrong. Think of what Christ did when he came down from heaven...He gave up his position at the right hand of the Father, to come down and live as the God-Man, who will one day save humanity! Remember that when you feel worthless.

This is not a self-help test. I'm just a 20 year old kid who hasn't lived long enough to have a lot of wisdom, but hopefully i will continue to grow in His grace and knowledge, treating people with His love (which includes how I view and treat myself!)

May God continue to change us to be more like Him. As believers, may we see ourselves the way God does... And when we continue to see ourselves the way God does, he can use his obedient children to be a part of this bigger picture...Himself changing the lives of people FOREVER.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!" -Ephes. 3:20-21

Dream big! AMEN!

Girls...

Stinkin' wierd. I'm sitting right now inside of a house that has 3 girls constantly dancing to country...one is chowing down on the ice cream...and I have really no idea what is going on...

Wow this is wierd.

Eternal

It's so good to be able to spend time with the body of Christ! It has been such a blessing to what God has been doing in my own life, showing me that I am not at a point of being a good leader. I want to be more for the Lord's sake! And yet it seems that so many people in this life just feel that mediocrity is okay...even within the amazing gift known as the body of Christ! We have been given EVERYTHING from our Lord. Paul speaks in Ephesians how we as believers should realize this: Because of the actions of both God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Son, we have been blessed with EVERY blessing within the heavenly places in Christ! (Ephesians 1:3) Therefore, I pose this question to both myself and you all who read, why do we not live for what really matters so much of the time?

I don't care who you are or how you've lived recently, but know and understand this: If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ as your redeemer, God has given you everything you need already within the spiritual realm! Surprisingly enough, before the Lord used Paul for this amazing letter of Ephesians, he used him to write another letter to another church, the Philippian Church. In that letter, Paul states this: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." (Phil. 3:20) Why did Paul write this before he wrote Ephesians? ... Because that was his mindset! PAUL WAS ALL ABOUT THE ETERNAL! The dude was destroyed for the sake of the Gospel (2 Cor. 11:24-27). He went through so much in our own human perspective, but I am willing to bet that his focus was on God. He lived a life of sacrifice, love, hurt, pain, brokenness, but there was so much joy from his heart, because he knew who his God, who was, is, and is to come!

May we as the body of Christ continue to strive for excellence in our lives and set our minds on the prize... one day, we will finally meet our Creator...

Blessings