You can find someone who can do nearly everything better than you, except the most essential skill: being yourself. No one can do a better job of being you than you. Perhaps you don’t mean much to the world, but you mean the world to your loved ones. Despite all their gifting, the wealthiest, prettiest, most athletic, most powerful people cannot come close to owning the exact gifting set God has given to you to be you. The world’s elite can never be you and can never fill the role God gave you. Don’t let Satan or your flesh tempt you to denigrate yourself and think you aren’t as good as others, lest you despair or fall into envy. You have a power they will never have—the power to live your individual life to the glory of God.
You do matter, and you are powerful in God’s will. His plan for your life is the only such plan he has written. He has no plan for someone else to fulfill or control your life. He also has no plan for you to fulfill or control other people’s lives. God only has one plan for you and God to work out. He has always wanted to partner with you in this plan. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God had this wonderful plan set out. Ephes.1:4-5 says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Follow this with verse 11, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”
Look again at the last sentence in verse 5, “This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Adopting you is what God wanted to do. YOU give him great pleasure! He has always adored you and wanted you to be just the person he made you to be. Of course he wants to work on the fleshly or selfish sides of your nature to sand them away. But your true self is the one God always wanted you to be. A pastor even said he believes we will have our personalities in heaven—of course the glorified side of ourselves, without the sin nature.
When we realize this truth, we can begin to live our lives with purpose and zeal, because we can stop comparing ourselves to others. Paul even mentioned that concept in Galatians 6:4-5, “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” If we begin to look at other people’s gifts and compare ourselves to them, we may miss the many gifts God gave us. When we use our gifts, we don’t burden others, 1 Thess.4:11-12, “And aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”
If you are still unsure of your spiritual gifts, look at a spiritual gifts test (many are available online, or you could ask your church if they offer such a test.) Also look back at my posts about personality. Each personality type comes with special gifts. Envy of others will take our eyes off of being who God wants us to be and then cause us to look with longing at others’ gifts. But David warns against this in Psalm 37: 1-2a “Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away.” And because God delights in us, we need to return his affections, as verse 4 of this Psalm says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desire.” When we choose to be content with the life God gave us (our gifts and skills and all of who we are) we actually feel rich, as 1 Tim.6:6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Heb.13:5 confirms this, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’.” But be aware the world will mock you for not coveting more and for being content being who God made you to be. I have experienced this in my own life. Even with that problem, God reassures us we are making the right choice. Look at 1 Cor.1:27-29, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”
Our world will constantly tell us we are not good enough, and we do not do enough. But we have to listen to God and follow the individual plan he has for us. This requires spending time alone with God, seeking his will. At times we may fast and pray. We may read our Bible, prayer journal, listen to praise music, sit in silence, take nature walks or do anything else we need to do to hear from God. But we need that time to be sure we are really hearing God about what he wants us to do. We also need to rest in his will and trust he made us the way he did, with great joy. Psalm 139:14 says, “I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
There are so many passages that confirm that God is crazy about us and that he made us with his best purpose in mind. Look at Luke 12:7, “In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” My favorite verse about God’s delight in me comes from Zeph. 3:17, “The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love; he will rejoice over you with singing.”
But we also need to be aware of what happens when we do not look at our own lives and begin to envy others. Psalm 73:2-4 says, “But for me? My feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped because I envied the arrogant; I observed how the wicked are well off: They suffer no pain; their bodies are fit and strong.” James uses a stronger warning in 4:2-3 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” So we have a choice, as Proverbs 14:30 says, “A peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” Do we want the peace of mind in accepting God’s exulting over us, or do we envy others and believe God did a bad job making us and then covet more than God gave us?
Remember that the leaders in Jesus day had a job to draw the people to Him. Instead they became proud and desired money. They became corrupt, and Jesus called them white washed tombs (Matt.23:27-28.) Jesus said they wanted to look righteous, but God saw their hearts and their love of money (Luke 16:13-15.) In their jealousy of the fame and popularity Jesus won (by being loving to others and true to God) the Jewish leaders killed Christ! So envy truly does destroy our peace and the lives of those around the envious.
God has blessed my life. But I currently choose to stay home with my girls and home school them. I have a simple and quiet life; in fact our world has accused women like me of being “simple.” I know this is intended as an insult. Yet I look at the people who accuse me and other Christians like me. The accusers are not content people. They have anger problems and the media reports that these people alienate many people. They are people who are always striving for more money but are never content with the people in their lives. So I would rather have the world condemn me than have God condemn me. I love this verse from Psalm 149:4 “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.”
The people in my life love me and accept me as I am. They do encourage me to grow and challenge me when I am struggling with any kind of sin. These are not “yes” people who mindlessly tell me what I want them to say. They are true friends (Proverbs 27:6 “Wounds from a friend are faithful, but enemies multiply their kisses.) God does this too. He loves me as I am, yet he challenges me to grow.
How I pray you will feel God’s joy in having made you just the way you are. You are his delight. If you ever doubt it, please tell God, in prayer. And if you still doubt your value, please contact me, and I will encourage you too. I am so happy to encourage others, and now I thank you for joining us in today’s post! May the Lord bless you this week.