Our theme for this month: “The Gift of Being Yourself”
Our Bible verse for today: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Does something need to change?”
All this month we’ve been considering the theme of “The Gift of Being Yourself.” We’ve explored the freedom God has given us to just relax and be ourselves. We have thought about the importance of being comfortable in our own skins, no longer giving in to the pressure to conform to the patterns and expectations of the world. And we have considered the great truth that we matter simply because God says we do. So, the goal has been to come to the point of relaxing and just enjoy being yourself.
But do you want to do that? Do you like yourself enough to just be you? Christine, the young lady I told you about yesterday, didn’t. She was unhappy with who she was and she didn’t consider herself to be worthy of acceptance or love, from herself or from anyone else.
An important part of being able to enjoy the gift of simply being yourself is to actually like yourself enough to want to just be you. Very often there are things about ourselves that we don’t like and which we wish were different. Sometimes those feelings are unjustified and come from allowing the culture and other people to impose their values on us. But other times there are things about ourselves that do legitimately need to change. Sometimes there are characteristics and mannerisms that we should be unhappy about and which we should make us uncomfortable.
This is where the prayer of King David in Psalm 139:23-24 becomes helpful. David was a pretty impressive guy in many ways. He was smart and talented and rich and powerful. He wrote beautiful songs, he was a successful leader of God’s people, and there was a lot about himself that he could justifiably feel good about. But that wasn’t good enough. David knew he needed to be right before God. Ultimately that’s what really matter. It was only when he was right with God that David could relax and enjoy being the man that he was. Thus, his prayer. “Search me, Holy Spirit. Know me, ferret out any offensive way in me, show it to me, then lead me to confession and repentance.”
What was true for David is just as true for us. Despite any other good thing about you, you won’t really feel good about yourself until you know, deep down, that you are right with God. That begins with placing your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, but then it continues with a daily time of searching, confession, and repentance.
I encourage you to spend some extra time with the Lord this morning. Make David’s prayer your prayer. Then allow the Holy Spirit to show you the areas of your life that need some attention. You won’t really feel good about yourself until those issues are addressed.
Oak Hill Baptist Church