Category Archives: Identity

Challenge, Encouragement, Healing, Identity, Insecurity

Have You Been Noticed Lately? II

A Thirty Day Devotional adapted from the NEW book: Identity: The Distinctiveness of You – Day 7

God’s love is lavished upon me. I John 3:1

God has given me a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1:7

An important discovery for each of us is to uncover where our security is derived from.  What are the things that we look to for security?  The list can be quite extensive.

Money                                                       Relationships

Marriage                                                    Success

Children                                                     Self-pride

Houses/real-estate                                  Approval                                   

Retirement accounts                               Accomplishments

Business

Earlier in my life, I was a marriage and family counselor.  One day a full-fledged, ordained, denominational, seminary degreed pastor came to see me.  Several sessions into our counseling, I remember a very honest confession from him.  He said, “I am an ordained pastor who speaks on the love of God, knows the scriptures on the love of God and I tell everyone that God loves them, but I do not know the love of God.”  Can you imagine that your profession is telling and teaching people that God loves them, and you yourself do not know that love?

It’s an everyday occurrence.  We think we know the love of God, but do we?  Do we understand that deep within our twisted soul, our shortcomings and our sin, God is madly in love with us?  He created you because He loved you.  He longs for you to know Him because He loves you.  He forgave you through His Son’s life given as a ransom on the cross because He loves you.  He will receive you into eternity one day, not based on your accomplishments or anything that you have done, but based on His incomprehensible, unfathomable, unexplainable righteous love.

Who, of all your relationships, really knows you?  Who knows your faults, your personal quirks and your incapabilities?  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit really know you and the Godhead, the three in one, adore you.  It is a revelation to know whose you are.  It is a revelation to know the One who knows you inside and out and it is a revelation to know the love of God for yourself.  Do you know this love?  You can.  It is this God, our Father, who through the scriptures below proves His love to you over and over.

He is a faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations – Deuteronomy 7:9

I am loved with an everlasting love – Jeremiah 31:3

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God – Psalms 36:7

I am a saint and loved by God – Romans 1:7

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit – Romans 5:5

I was loved by God before my birth – Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:4

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ – Ephesians 2:4

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, filled with the fullness of God – Ephesians 3:19

God’s love is lavished upon me – I John 3:1

I am loved, God’s Son sacrificed Himself for me – I John 4:10

The love of God transcends any lie we have ever believed that leads us to feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. It is His love that has been and will forever be lavished upon us daily.

Question for reflection:

Of the above scriptures, which ones speak to your heart the most concerning your need for security?

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Challenge, Children, Encouragement, Identity, Insecurity, Issues of the Day

Have You Been Noticed Lately?

A Thirty Day Devotional adapted from the NEW book: Identity: The Distinctiveness of You – Day 6

You will be secure, because there is hope. Job 11:18

I am chosen by Him. I Thessalonians 1:4

One of the ways we focus on ourselves is through comparison.  Quite a few years ago while my children were still young, I wrote a leaflet that began with the following paragraph:

Maggie has never had a problem with her self-image.  She loves life and makes the best of every minute.  She loves people and believes that they all love and accept her unconditionally.  Maggie has never stared into a mirror and felt hopeless.  She’s never even desired to look at herself in a mirror and make any kind of judgement.  She is perfectly content with who she is, what she wears, the shape of her body, the color of her eyes, the size of her nose and the shape of her ears.  Maggie blindly trusts in her Creator.  She is content to be who she is.  You see, Maggie is our yellow Labrador Retriever.

The Bible tells us that comparison is unwise.  “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves.  When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”  (II Corinthians 10:12) How so?  When we compare ourselves to someone else, we typically come up short or proud—in other words, feeling insignificant or feeling better than another.  Both of these outcomes are unproductive and self-deprecating, not to mention possibly hurtful to others.  

Comparison does not build security in our lives.  Paul the Apostle told Timothy, his spiritual son, to watch his life…closely (I Timothy 4:6).  He did not say to compare your life to others.  

Here is a truth: The more self-focused we are, and comparison is a form of self-focus, the more insecure we will be.  Being self-focused stunts our growth and essentially inhibits our security.  

The Scripture expresses that the fear of man will prove to be a snare.  (Proverbs 29:25) What does that mean?  It will trip you up, it will steal your direction, it will keep you from following God’s voice, it will keep you stressed and it will steal your joy.  The fear of others’ opinions of us is as old as time.  Every life lived on this earth has dealt with this fear which can be all-consuming.  

Paul the Apostle was writing to the Galatian church about this very subject.  In chapter one, he was saying how astonished he was that they would so quickly be deserting the One who had called them and they would be following a false gospel. He related it to a false gospel that others were speaking to them.  He then writes this, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?” 

You are chosen by Him; you need not compare yourself to anyone! You are uniquely created by your heavenly Father and there is great hope in His security. He notices you every day of your life!

Question for reflection:

If you find that you compare yourself with others, how can God’s approval of you bring an end to your comparison?

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