Our Bible verse for today: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “You are a masterpiece”
Okay, tell the truth, are you uncomfortable with the thought of loving yourself? I’m guessing that the question itself makes you uncomfortable. You might even answer it with a resounding “no” because you don’t want to sound like a narcissist. However, hopefully you do love yourself.
I want to tell you this morning that you should love yourself – and it’s more than just okay, it’s good and it’s healthy. It is also vitally important. How we think and feel about ourselves determines everything else about us. It determines not just how we see ourselves, but it also colors our outlook about others and the world. It determines how we think, how we act, and how we interact with others. A healthy sense of self-worth and self-esteem is crucial to being the person God intends for you to be.
This is so important that God has gone to great lengths in the Bible to communicate this great truth. He wants you to understand and appreciate how special He created you to be. Here are just a few of the passages that prove this to be true:
“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.” (Psalm 139:13-14). While you were in your mother’s womb, God was lovingly and carefully forming your body and making you into the beautiful creation you are.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Not only did God create you to be a beautiful physical creation, but in the moment you placed your faith in Christ, He formed you into a new spiritual creation as well.
“Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). God brought the beautiful physical you together with the beautiful spiritual you to become a walking, talking, mobile temple of His Holy Spirit. That’s who you are and that’s how He sees you!
“The second (great commandment) is, love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31). The assumption Jesus was communicating here is that you already love yourself; now He wants you to love others like you love yourself. God expects you to love yourself!
Now go back and reread Ephesians 2:10 (above) and gain a new understanding of why God calls you His “masterpiece”. It’s because that’s how He sees you! And the reason He has communicated all of this to you in the Bible is because that’s how he wants you to see yourself.
Please do not be reluctant to see yourself as God sees you. He created you. You are His masterpiece. Love yourself for who He has made you to be in Christ.
Oak Hill Baptist Church