Do You Love Yourself?
When Jesus says to us, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself" (Mark 12:31), He's saying that you can't love others if you don't first love yourself. That tells us that the most important relationship you have is the relationship with yourself. Too many people don't like who they are. They focus on their faults and weaknesses. They relive their mistakes and failures. They wish they were taller, had a better personality, and looked like their cousin instead of accepting themselves as made in the image of God. Then they wonder why they're not happy and why they don't have good relationships. It's because they don't like themselves. If you don't get along with you, you're not going to get along with other people.
God has given us different personalities, different gifts, different temperaments. Sometimes we're fighting who we are, trying to be like someone else. You have to accept who God has made you to be. Sure, there are areas in which we can improve and grow, but there are certain things that are who we are. I am naturally quiet and reserved, laid back, easy-going. When my father went to be with the Lord, I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church. But I had never ministered, didn't have the training, and didn't feel qualified. However, I could deal with those things. What I struggled with was that my father was dynamic, forceful, and had such a strong personality. I thought, "I don't have my father's strengths. I can't minister like him." When we compare and think we have to be like someone else, we can feel shortchanged, as though we're at a disadvantage, not as talented as others.
When I was tempted to feel inferior, I had to do what I'm telling you to do. Tune all that out and use the gifts God has given you. I discovered that my personality, my talents, my strengths, and my temperament are right for my assignment, and you will as well. God has given you what you need to fulfill your destiny. If you needed a different personality, He would have given you one. If you needed different gifts, different strengths, different looks, different parents, it would have happened. Quit comparing and run your race.
You have to be comfortable in your own skin. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. God calls you His masterpiece. Walk in your anointing, be confident with your gifts, let your personality shine. There's not another person in this world like you. The enemy would love for you to go through life trying to be an imitation, copying someone else that you think is more attractive, more gifted, more successful. No, be you. Nobody can do you like you can do you.
God has given us different personalities, different gifts, different temperaments. Sometimes we're fighting who we are, trying to be like someone else. You have to accept who God has made you to be. Sure, there are areas in which we can improve and grow, but there are certain things that are who we are. I am naturally quiet and reserved, laid back, easy-going. When my father went to be with the Lord, I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church. But I had never ministered, didn't have the training, and didn't feel qualified. However, I could deal with those things. What I struggled with was that my father was dynamic, forceful, and had such a strong personality. I thought, "I don't have my father's strengths. I can't minister like him." When we compare and think we have to be like someone else, we can feel shortchanged, as though we're at a disadvantage, not as talented as others.
When I was tempted to feel inferior, I had to do what I'm telling you to do. Tune all that out and use the gifts God has given you. I discovered that my personality, my talents, my strengths, and my temperament are right for my assignment, and you will as well. God has given you what you need to fulfill your destiny. If you needed a different personality, He would have given you one. If you needed different gifts, different strengths, different looks, different parents, it would have happened. Quit comparing and run your race.
You have to be comfortable in your own skin. You have been fearfully and wonderfully made. God calls you His masterpiece. Walk in your anointing, be confident with your gifts, let your personality shine. There's not another person in this world like you. The enemy would love for you to go through life trying to be an imitation, copying someone else that you think is more attractive, more gifted, more successful. No, be you. Nobody can do you like you can do you.