If anyone ever tells you that your teenage years are easy then they lied. There is absolutely nothing easy about peer pressure, bullying, keeping your grades up, thinking about your future, avoiding others who are out to break you, and the world telling you that you will NEVER be good enough.
The world that told me if I do this and that and whatever it takes to be perfect will help me achieve happiness is the same world that left me empty after I tried and tried to be perfect. I looked at the girls in Victoria’s secret magazines and trusted that this was the standard of beauty was and that I had to meet it because anything less would leave you single and unhappy. I looked to movies that had unfathomable amounts of cuss-words because I believed that if you said these words then you had a strong identity as someone who wasn’t afraid to speak their mind. I looked in the mirror and saw nothing but absolute disgust at the imperfect monster I had become.
This next paragraph or two takes courage to write because it is a flaw, and who really wants to reveal their flaws to the world that tells us we can’t mess up because no one will want us.
I started looking for self worth in guys. Every time I could text a guy a picture of me in a tight shirt or me with a sexy smile like the pictures in magazines and on movies I would. And of course I got the attention I wanted because guys want a good girl who will be bad just for him. And most guys want a girl who is willing to give up the precious gift that God gave us which is our purity.
I began attracting men who told me I was sexy or hot. But never once did any of them call me beautiful until I threatened to leave them because I was empty. Only then would they take the time to send a message about your beauty. Not only did this hurt me and leave me empty but it hurt others. I had taken the path to destruction which can never be fixed. So I thought. The truth is is that God wants us. God wants all of us. He wants our brokenness. He wants our imperfections. And most importantly He wants our hearts.
So often times we start to believe the lies. Not because we are truly not good enough but because it seems like everything in life has shown us we aren’t. From our role models to social media to the relationships we enter into to what we see in the mirror, these things and people have taken away our self worth. We start to think that our beauty stems from the things we buy to make us beautiful and that our outward appearance is what wins people over before they ever see you for the content of your character. We see how much easier it is to conform to what the world has told us to be instead of embracing the way God intended us to be. And please let me be the first to say that I am preaching to the choir. I have allowed the blinders of this world to control what I say, do, and feel because I believed that the world knew best. But God removed the blinders and has shown me what it means to be redeemed, loved, WORTHY, and cared for in a genuine way. God takes our brokenness and makes us whole again. He takes our imperfections and makes us perfect in his love. And he takes our hearts and makes them the greatest treasure.
The Lord has revealed to me the secret to surviving in a world full of lies. Are you ready for the secret? The Bible
Cliché right? But have you ever taken the time to think on who Jesus hung out with and forever changed the hearts of? It wasn’t the perfect people, it wasn’t the people who had their whole lives together, no. It was the people who were broken. The outcasts. The people who looked at life and thought ” I don’t belong here because I’m not good enough.
Jesus used these people because they were the first to admit that they couldn’t do life alone. That they needed someone who loved them. And what better a person for the part then our Savior. The one who PAID the price for us. The one who literally was beaten, mocked, spit on, and carried a cross up a hill to his death. And don’t you forget that he didn’t have to do it. He did it because he loved you. WHAT LOVE! What love that he gave his life so we could understand what it means to be wanted. So he could remove the blinders from our eyes and see that we are “more then the choices that we make, we are more then the sum of our past mistakes, we are more then the problems we create” and most importantly we are worth more then anything the world could offer.
So don’t don’t believe the lies. Look to God for your self worth. When you feel down and worthless read these verses and preach them to yourself until you grasp how true and rich they are with life. The verses are:
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God. Give her everything she deserves! Proverbs 31: 30-31
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
“What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million.” Luke 12:6-7
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.
7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.
8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
11-12 “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. Mathew 5:3-12
My final thoughts are this. Although being a christian is an amazing gift, it’s not an easy one. And just because we read our bibles every once and a while and go to church every sunday doesn’t mean that life will always be easy and that self worth will always be obvious. It’s a fight! It’s a marathon that will sometimes suck. And its never because God wants to trip us up. It’s because the devil is deceiving and he allows people to come in with characteristics we see as valuable and non harmful that ultimately turn bad and lead to stealing your joy and robbing you of your self worth. But when this happens (because it happens to everyone) remember the price paid for YOU. Remember the unconditional love God has for you that never fails. And I promise if you fill your heart and mind with the word of God you will always find your way back.
