God Loves You - Just the way you are.

Fact – God Loves You!

Fact – God has an amazing plan for your life

Fact – You are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s IMAGE

Fact – You are beautiful – just the way you are

Fact – Like it or not, you are who you are – unique, silly, quirky, odd and different – yes you cannot run from who you are.

We all struggle to fit in at times in our lives with school, sports, church, family and more.  We have this desire to be accepted for who we are.  Sometimes we desire this so much that we have compromised who we are and be accepted.  I think we have all been in these situations. 

Concern I have for us today - If we are all seeking acceptance from others all the time as our focus, might I challenge us all today with this thought-provoking question…If we are so intent about seeking acceptance, then who are you trying to win over?  What is your motivation to be accepted?

Listen to the struggle this teenager has in her life…

Why am I so obsessed with being accepted by others?

I think that I am less important than other people and I'm always complaining about my appearance and I feel really insecure about how I Iook.  I feel really bad because I will say I look ugly all the time and sometimes when I think that I don't look horrible I will still say that I look bad anyway so people will say 'no you don't look bad' and if they don’t that's because they think I'm ugly and if they say that I'm not ugly they're just lying and the think I'm ugly anyway. I hate that I do it but I can't stop.  I think that I'm a failure at almost anything and all I do is daydream about being pretty and smart and people liking me and then I think that I must be an egomaniac for thinking that. I hate that I live in an imaginary world where everyone likes me.  I really want to stop hating myself and comparing me to other people. I can't stop.  I always compliment people endlessly even if what they did wasn’t good . I hate making people unhappy and I just keep making them want to like me.
please help me stop thinking I'm horrible. I hate myself for dreaming of being superior to others. I'm really full of myself.

She is struggling to be accepted for who she is.  She is seeking self, looks and popularity as her self-worth.  She is placing her dependence on what others think of her more than what God things of her.  Listen to this statement.

“The desire to be accepted by others is a distortion of the desire God has placed in each of us to be accepted and affirmed by God.  REALITY – The ultimate acceptance and affirmation we need can only come from God.”

Why do we feel unacceptable?  Simply – SIN.  Listen to what Isaiah has to say - Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”  Our best effort to be accepted will ALWAYS come up short.  Because of sin, we will never measure up or be good enough.  Comforting thought, huh.

Truth and reality - acceptance can ONLY come through God and understanding the sacrifice His son, Jesus made for us on the cross.  We can continue to seek acceptance in other things, but you will NEVER FIND IT! 

Romans 5:12; 18-19

You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death.  Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Can I encourage you to do a very difficult thing?  Can you train yourself to view yourself through the eyes of God and not the eyes of man?  Allow these verses to help you in your journey with your search for significance.

John 15:5 - “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Ephesians 1:7-8 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Question – Have you ever given your all and given your life to Jesus to receive eternal acceptance?