Maybe the better question is, "Do I like me?"
Countless people hate who they see in the mirror. Advertisements all over the world promote the lies of, "if you buy our product, you will become beautiful/handsome, likable, cool, important, whole, truly clean, and your need will only be fulfilled if you buy our product ... because none other will do."
We are daily pelted with accusations of unworthiness and insufficiency from many people and from many angles. Interestingly enough, there are, also, some people trying to affirm us if we will just listen. The people who truly care about us and love us are giving us words of affirmation, gifts, and their time just as well. Which do we listen to?
I'm amazed at how I will sometimes tell my kids they look nice, their hair is fine, or they did something wonderful and I get the response, "Yeah, but you're my Dad." I know they want to hear these things from kids their age, but to miss the love and acceptance from those who love and accept you is a bad idea -- and I've told them as much. Genuine compliments are rare enough. Accept them when you hear them! Don't respond with, "But I don't feel pretty,' or 'I'm still not good enough,' or the like. Respond with an honest, 'Thank you,' because an attitude of gratitude is important, too. (Wink, nudge)
Silence aids and abets depression. It is critical that those suffering with depression open up and talk about what they're going through and dealing with. Not just important, but critical. If you don't open up to somebody, actually dumping your deepest, darkest secrets, you will crash again. Jesus is the One Person who will accept you no matter what you say, think, and have done. He is the One we all must go to so we can be healed of our many soul wounds. Don't concern yourself with what people will think or say, you must take care of yourself. You'll be surprised to discover how many people care about you when you open up.
Vulnerability is the feeling we get when we are being stretched and there is no growth without being stretched. When Jesus talked about the new wine skins, He was making one thing abundantly clear: we will all have to undergo a stretching in order to receive all God has for us.
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
What Jesus was talking about is the fact that you cannot take His teachings of New Testament doctrine (Holy Spirit Co-Habitation) and utilize it within the old structure and conformity of the Old Testament doctrine (Holy Spirit Visitation). The idea is that, if we try to fit His teachings into the old sacrificial structure, our minds will be ruined because of confusion*. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the "new wine" and we are the container, aka the "new wine skins"! So get this: if you are a born-again Spirit-filled believer, you have been sealed with the ultimate Stamp of Approval!
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
Jesus likes you! No, Jesus LOVES you! No matter your abilities, height, weight, skin color, or attractiveness, He loves you very, very much ... but He also is holy and does not want us to remain lost, broken, and in sinful bondage to the devil. He bought us from the spiritual slave market for a price. Since we were bought at a price (Jesus' own blood), we owe Him a tremendous debt -- a debt He's not wanting to collect from us (as if we could somehow pay Him back), but He wants us to pay that price forward with our sacrificial love and devotion to His Great Commission.
If we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, then we'd better get started with loving ourselves! That means no more disliking your face, hair, body, and mind. The Bible reads, 'we were fearfully and wonderfully made.' That means God takes His creativity very seriously to make us with great care, caution, and creativity, with tenderness, knowing the power He has bestowed upon us to make evil or produce life.
Who you are in Jesus has everything to do with who you think you are and what you should be. Don't accept what the naysayers say. Never accept what the haters say. Don't accept everything the folks at school, work, or even church say about you. If it doesn't line up with Scripture, it is FALSE. Just like anything you hear, see, or perceive, if it doesn't line up with Scripture, it must be removed from your life. Pronto. You will realize you are starting to like the real you when you stick up for yourself and others and have healthy boundaries where you won't allow people to walk all over you. Jesus wasn't a people-pleasing doormat and we must not be, either.
Prayer
Father God, how great is Your name! How great is Your presence in my life and how thankful I am to know You! It is easy to envision You as an awesome and wonderful Person. However, I confess I have not seen myself as the wonderfully and fearfully made person You made me to be. Please forgive me for seeing myself as 'less than' others. Help me recognize all the changes I need to make in my life and help me do what must be done so I can grow and grow. Stretch me, this new "wine skin", so I can contain as much of You as You will allow. I accept suffering as a pathway to peace and I choose today to repent of, renounce, and reject all thoughts of myself that others have spoken over me or I have spoken over myself. (Name the ones you can recall) I know those word curses have kept me bound in the devil's snares and I want to be free! Set me free from the lies and word curses. I release them all to You this moment. In the name and blood of Jesus I pray, amen.
* Receiving the 'Baptism' of the Holy Spirit (Holy Spirit indwelling us) is the single greatest miracle after Jesus' resurrection. That God would, indeed, dwell among His people once and for all is the greatest and most awesome thing we can experience as human beings!
Many thanks to Ali Marel on Unsplash for the use of the great photo!