Knowing Jesus Impacts Me
August 3, 2002
How do you feel about yourself? Truth is that most of us don’t feel all that good about ourselves- our self image and self confidence are not at raging highs, but are more at lows, and have been for years- likely since we were children.
What are some of the ways we can think of that tell us how we feel about ourselves? When someone compliments you on a job well done, is your first reaction to discount that compliment- to say, ‘it was nothing’, or, maybe if it’s something you’ve cooked that is being complimented to immediately talk about how it didn’t turn out quite the way you wanted or that the recipe said. These show that you don’t think of yourself with confidence. Some of us hide behind being too quiet or too loud- these indicate lower than desired self image. Some hide behind being to heavy or too light- both extremes are ways that we react to a low self image or low self confidence. Do you seriously wish you were taller? Shorter? Bigger? Smaller? Do you actually feel, and admit it, that you’re not much of a person and not really worthy of anything? Has life beaten you down to the point that you don’t feel you really have anything to offer anyone? Do you feel ‘good for nothing’? Do you feel like you ‘can’t do anything right’? Do you feel like you’re ‘never going to amount to much’ or that you ‘haven’t amounted to much’? Do these feelings dominate your thinking patterns? Do you have to make sure everyone knows all that you’re doing and how busy you are and what important people you see? These are common ways for 21st century people to cover feelings to inferiority and not feeling good about themselves.
It has taken all of us a lot of work to get to where we are today. We’ve had to weather the teen years, and they have always been difficult years- they are now and they were ‘back then’, too. Those of you in the teen years right now might find it hard to imagine, but it’s true. Teens focus on their height and being too tall or too short, and on being too thin or too fat. They focus on their hair and it’s never quite right. Then there are those pimples that mar the surface of what could be a perfect face, but now can never be. Girls worry about their breast size, and guys worry about the size of their chest and how they’re shaped, as well as the size of other body parts. Girls worry about their beauty and some become adults thinking they’re not beautiful Guys worry about whether they’re attractive to girls and some become adults feeling that they’re not at all attractive. All of us, who are past teenage, have been there, and have been impacted by these worries and anxieties, and by the verbal barbs we might have received for the way we were at some stage.
Unfortunately, in some cases- far too many- words of parents stick with you. Some of them were so critical that you can’t help but carry them with you, it seems. Some parents don’t know how to lift up and build up and because of their own insecurities, they pass on inferiority and low self-esteem, so some of us are dealing with a generational issue. Some have been abused, in childhood, and that really messes with minds and feelings- whether mental, emotional, or physical abuse- doesn’t matter- someone bigger has taken advantage of someone smaller, and that makes that person feel smaller forever, it seems, and that is not right. Some adults are too quiet because parents made them believe they never had anything worthwhile to say and always criticized what they said.
The result of all this is that some of us have a very damaged and broken self-image, with those strong feelings of being good for nothing and not being able to do anything right and of not amounting to much.
So, how can we do anything differently and be anything differently?
One relationship can make a big difference, and this is a relationship we need to understand and build with great energy, because of the liberation that it can bring to us. Knowing Jesus can help you in your relationship with YOURSELF! Knowing Jesus can be the greatest help you can have from anywhere to how you feel about yourself. There is every reason to draw truth from the source of truth- the Word of God- in order to handle some of these feelings that really hold us back in our lives- and which prevent our being all we can be now, as well as into the future.
God is our creator, and God doesn’t make junk! I want you to remember that. I used to have a t-shirt that said, “I’m OK. God don’t make no junk.” It’s an important message for us to hear down deeply into our heart- into the core of our beings. For us who are adults, this is a hard message to even accept because some of the other messages have been so loud for so long. But it’s time for us to turn down the volume of some of those messages and to turn up the volume of God’s message- the message that comes through Jesus.
Ps. 103.13-14- God sees the ‘real’ you- there’s no hiding from Him. He knows the difference between who you really are and what life has made you into. The problem is that you and I may not know that difference or recognize that and we tend to accept what life has made us as the real message. But God knows the truth and wants you to understand that truth. He wants you to be able to differentiate between the two and to begin to change how you view yourself- changing it to the true picture that He sees. God loves you- the real you and the distorted you- but you have been blocked in how you can accept those feelings of love. Some of you find love hard to accept- some of you never had hugs from your parents, for instance, and that makes it hard for you now. But you have to appreciate that your parents were imperfect and often were simply passing on what they had received. They may have never had an opportunity to really internalize God’s message about them. So, now the ‘buck stops here’- with you and God is calling to you to hear the truth and to receive it and react to it properly.
Christianity calls us to change. Just as I am is a fine beginning, but is NOT where you and I are to stay. WE have said that we would believe Jesus, not the wrong messages, and this is a time for us to do that! YOU are at stake here. So, listen up- listen to scripture- listen to the voice of God, to your heart, today. Receive that message.
YOU ARE NOT JUNK! YOU are not worthless. You are not good for nothing. You are not always wrong. You are going to amount to greatness!
Ro. 3. 21- 24- very important message. Do you keep dredging up past flaws and sins? God has dealt with those already. Don’t keep going there, OK? Your patterning keeps you looking back and at errors- rather than at what is right about you. And what is that? Jesus is alive in you! Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour? Then Jesus is alive in you and God sees only Jesus in you. (If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Saviour, there is no better time than today- see me after church and let us talk about that, OK?)
Ro. 6. 1- 16- 18- sin has dominated us and, sadly, continues to after our conversion. But let’s stop that and start listening to God. It is sin that has told you that you are worthless. It is sin that has told you that you aren’t very valuable and keeps you hiding from the truth through low self image, weight, worry about beauty, worry about size, worry about hair, having to let everyone know all about your greatness or lack of greatness, and the like. It’s time to stop the messages of sin. Sin does not have dominion anymore! Notice, especially, verses 16, 17, and 18 and the change that has come to your life now. It’s tremendous and this is what God sees. This is the REAL you now! This is where your focus needs to be. And you have a responsibility to focus here now, not to focus on the inadequacies and problems and errors and all that SIN put as main messages for so long in your life. You and I have to focus on what God focuses on, and He focuses on Jesus in you! This is the real you. Make sure it is the real you, and keep the focus there- living as Jesus wants to live in you. He doesn’t feel inferior and inadequate. He doesn’t refuse compliments. Jesus knows that He isn’t junk and isn’t worthless. Focus there, not on wrong mental patterns.
2 Cor. 10.3- 5- tells us an important process to carry forward in our minds. This is vital for us. Bring every thought captive. Turn it over and if it’s a wrong thought, reject it and bring in thoughts from Jesus’ mind.
How about this message from Jesus: Ps. 139. 13-18?
Jesus’ message to you, that will help you in your relationship with yourself, is simple and clear:
Matt. 11. 28- 30- this is a vital message. You can’t be nearly as much good to others as you want to be if you don’t clear up this matter of your relationship with yourself. How you see yourself is very important.
1 Cor. 15. 49- there’s a change of image to bear. Because of Adam’s sin, we’ve borne his image of inferiority- hiding from God, for instance- and have rejected what God makes available. However, now we’re in a different situation. Jesus is alive in us- in you and in me- and that’s the image to be conformed to- now and in the future.
Rom. 8. 1, 29- 31
Your mind is like a radio/CD player. There’s something playing there and it might not be the healthiest for you. You have all sorts of voices in your head that are filled with messages that aren’t good ones- maybe it’s parents, spouses, friends from childhood, teachers from way back, ministers from way back telling you that you were less than dust, etc. But those messages are not God’s messages and you need to turn down those messages. As you bring all thoughts captive to Jesus, you must make the effort to turn down those wrong messages and turn up the volume on the messages that Jesus gives you. Turn down one, turn up the other. It will become an easier process as you do it. At first, this will be very difficult. Let us pledge to help each other with it, too. If someone makes a negative comment about themselves, let us bring it to their attention and give a positive message, which should make it easier for them next time. Research has shown that it takes 7 positive messages to undo 1 negative message. Some of you have so many negative messages in your head that it will take a long time to overcome, if that ratio is necessary. However, based on God’s word, we can have great confidence. There are lots of positive messages in God’s Word and you need to find all these- write them out, repeat them to yourself, often. It’s God speaking to you! Don’t let the negative messages have priority anymore, but allow the positive to take priority.
Knowing Jesus will make a great difference in your relationship with yourself! It must- it will- allow this process to work, and through this, become more valuable as a child of God who can make a difference for God’s kingdom in the lives of others around you!
