So... I'm super sorry that I haven't posted a blog in the past four days. I could give you excuses about how time got away from me, or that I had a lot of homework, but neither of those excuses is good enough for God, so they're not good enough for you either. So I will just say that I am sorry, BUT I have an awesome blog for tonight.
This blog comes from one of my devotionals: Josh McDowell's Youth Devotions 2. I think I'll just jump in and talk about it more afterward.
It is entitled "Check Your I.D."
Psalm 8:1-9 - O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who has set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the mon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast corwned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast pu all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
What makes you who you are? They way you look? Your performance at school? Your hobbies, sports, and after-school busyness? Your spiritual gifts?
You're way more than any of that. Who you are is also more than your race, family pedigree, or skill at computer games. Those are important pieces of your identity. But they're just the outer layers.
People say, "Clothes make the person," but you no doubt know better than that. Clothes might enhance you or disguise you or promote you, but they don't make you. There's more to your identity than how you decorate your body or shockingly accessorize your ears, nose, or belly button.
And then there are all those diet and fitness infomercials promising to make you into a total man or woman: you'll shed pounds, tone up flab, and watch your life change. But does a transformed body affect your true identity? Of course not. You might like your new looks. But your true identity has slim-to-none to do with whether you're buff-or bulge in a few places.
So if these outer layers are just layers over your true identity, who are you underneath it all? That's something that you want to figure out, because your core identity-especially how you see yourself-plays a huge role in how you carry yourself in daily life, how happy you are, how you treat other people, and how you respond to God. It's vital that you know who you are apart from what you look like and what you do.
Maybe you've never pondered the question, "Who am I?" Maybe you've worked so hard on your outer layers that you've missed the big truth that you're a person of great value and worth, made in the image of the Creator and crowned with glory and honor (Psalm 8:5). One girl said this about her friend: "She's one of the prettiest girls in the world, but she thinks she's incredibly ugly. She feels grotesque. That's why she can't trust anyone who says they love her. It's as if she's saying to God, 'God, if you love me, you must be a real jerk.'" This girl's thinking is flawed because she fails to realize that a loving God holds the key to her identity. Only He knows her real worth.
Truth is, when you're a Christian your innermost identity is this: You're a child of the King. And when you get close to the King, you begin to see yourself as the princess or prince you are.
God wants you not only to understand who you are but also to enjoy being that person. What gets in the way of seeing yourself first as God's child?
Ask God to teach you a biblical view of yourself.
This devotional really spoke to me tonight. I got down to the bottom, and read the words "You're a child of the King" and I instantly knew what I would be writing about. God places things in front of us for a reason. Right before I sat down to read this devotional, I was taking a shower, and some song lyrics began to form in my head. Each time I began to think about words to start a verse with, the phrase, "I'm a child of the King" would come first. I actually came back and wrote down the lyrics that had been running through my head before I read the devotional. Not only did those two things happen one after the other, but also at BCM tonight, the speaker touched on the fact that we are God's children, His sons and daughters, and that we were created in His image. We are to live a life that is pleasing and honors Him.
At then end of the day, no matter how badly we may screw up, we are still God's children. AND He will always love us and be there to pick us up and dust us off. ALL that we have to do is ask. And once we are His, He will never let us go.
So when you're feeling down and out or like you're not good enough, for whatever reason, take comfort in the fact that you are God's child. He will never leave or forsake you, and He is your constant friend and protector. For those of us who are saved, God LIVES in our hearts. He resides within us, and nothing can take Him out of us.
"I am His, and He is mine"
God Bless,
Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment