By Chris WittsFriday 29 Apr 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
Transcript:
I have a feeling there are many people who don’t like themselves. Maybe when they attended school as a child, other kids teased them or called them names like ‘fatty” or ‘four eyes’ or ‘ugly’. It’s possible you were on the receiving end of such treatment at school, and I think it leaves a mark inside, not a physical mark, but an inner wound that takes a long time to heal, if ever.
There are barriers in our lives, specific issues which stop us being the people we want to be, and this can go on for years, even to old age.
Henri Nouwen, a Catholic theologian, talks about some of the ways the world speaks to us. He said this. “We live in a world filled with voices that shout, and you are no good, you are ugly, you are worthless, you are despicable, you are nobody – unless you can demonstrate the opposite.”
Have you had an experience in life that confirms this quote? Do you feel you are a worthwhile person?
Think about the things that we have heard in our own families, from friends, from people who should know better and people who should love us more. Wounds that we carry around that make us think we are worthless, that we are unlovable, that is there is a problem, we are the problem.
Nouwen has more helpful words, “The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended or rejected you have to dare to say to yourself, these feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth even though I can’t feel it right now is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in Gods’ eyes, called the beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace.”
Sometimes God’s help is going to come to us with a human face. He can send the right person along to help. Sometimes God’s help is going to come a certain way, but we don’t want it that way because we are too embarrassed.
It might be something that we have done in our past. Something that has wounded us and it’s still part of why we can’t accept ourselves, why we struggle in our relationship with God.
It might be because of sin in our past, and the wounds are still there. The problems still hurt us, even though it is part of the past, but we don’t want anybody to know about it. Maybe it’s a current issue, some issue you don’t want to talk about – perhaps a family issue which is getting you down. And you want God to help, but you are certainly too embarrassed to let anybody know about it.
These things often, these sorts of struggles are struggles where God has an answer, but it requires an answer through other people. Sometimes it’s through Christians, and sometimes it is through people who are not Christians. Sometimes we need a counsellor, and there is no shame in making an appointment to see one. Sometimes we need a good friend. It’s amazing how sometimes that special friend can be a “Godsend” who can help you through a particular issue.
There are things that we struggle with, and we don’t want other people to know that we are embarrassed about. Sometimes part of God’s solution is that we have to receive that help from another person. And so, we need to know what to believe. We need to hold on to that and believe that God has the will to do that good in our lives and then we have to accept it whatever way God gives it.
We can’t set the terms. God is bigger than we are, and He knows the best for you and me and He loves us deeply.
I like what American teacher Joyce Meyer says, and the question she asks, How are the relationships with other people in your life? What about your relationship with God and even with yourself?
Did it ever occur to you that you have a relationship with yourself? While I’ve never given it much thought, I spend more time with myself than with anyone, and it’s vital to get along well with me. Remember, you are the one person you never get away from. We all know how agonising it is to work day after day with someone we don’t get along with, but at least that person doesn’t come home with us at night. We can’t get away from ourselves, not even for one second, so it’s of the utmost importance that we have peace with ourselves.
Many of us fall prey to self-rejection because we feel that nobody really loves us or accepts us. We figure that if nobody else loves us, then why should we love ourselves? Because we think others don’t love us, we feel that we must not be worth loving. But that’s a lie we’ve believed for way too long!
Don’t reject yourself as someone ugly or of no significance … Many times people who reject themselves because they can’t see themselves as good, proper, or right. They fail to see themselves the way God sees them—as precious children He dearly loves.
As you begin to see yourself through God’s eyes—someone who’s loved and cherished—your view of yourself will begin to change. You’ll begin to see yourself not as rejected, but as loved and accepted…unique and beautiful in His sight.
I like what Proverbs 3:6 says from the OT “Always let Him lead you, and He will clear the road for you to follow.