Part 1
There is a widely held belief among behavioral scientists that the way you see yourself has a direct correlation to how you perceive the world around you.
Series Thesis: We want to shape the way we see ourselves around the way God sees us and who we are in Christ so that we can have a healthy, godly perception of ourselves and our world.
Proverbs 4:23 GNB Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Side-effects of a bad self-image or low self-esteem:
- You’re obsessed with perfection. (never quite good enough)
- You think you bring nothing to the table.
- You are over-sensitive.
- You tend to be fearful and anxious.
- You feel angry.
- You are a people pleaser.
- You usually hate yourself.
Be careful what your self-assessment is. What we have done has let these two things shape the way that we see ourselves:
- We let culture define who we are.
If you are good looking on the outside, then you are an awesome person. If you are wealthy, have possessions, you are an awesome person.
- We let our past define who we are.
We live our lives looking through the rear-view mirror.
God is not limited to nor is He really interested in what happened in your past. He is more concerned about your future. He sees your potential!
This will keep you from realizing your potential.
Some of you are bound to words that have been spoken over you!
Romans 12:3 NIV For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
The Greek language is four times more descriptive than the English language.
- Highly – huperphronéō – an improper view, to not think clearly, you have bought into a wrong way of thinking, not in your right mind
- Sober – sophroneo – having a right mind, to think realistically, rationally, practically, be in your right mind (Gadarene demoniac)
- Faith – a belief and security about what God thinks about you and how He sees you, assurance of your relationship with God
“Don’t have an unhealthy view of yourself, but rather be set free from the wrong view and let God give you right thinking by being assured of who He is and what He believes about you.”
We have been listening to the wrong relationships and we need to listen to the right relationship.
Root Cause:
- You’ll never be right until you can see right.
As long as your personal assessment is based on the world’s culture, or your past, you are never going to be right.
Steven Furtick — ‘The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.’
Changing Our Identity
How do I begin to see right?
Essence of poor identity is having the wrong perspective.
(Judges 6:11-16, 24 NLT) Then the Angel of the LORD came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. (12) The Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the LORD is with you!” (13) “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” (14) Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” (15) “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” (16) The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” (24) And Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the LORD is peace”)…
(Judges 6:13 NLT) “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The LORD brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
- See God correctly.
For you to see you correctly, you have to first see God correctly.
Some see God as mean and mad. But He is not!
(Psalms 59:10 TLB) My God is changeless in his love for me. And He will come and help me…
You will never believe in what He says about you until you believe in how He sees you!
(Judges 6:15 NLT) “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”
- See myself the way God sees me.
Have a healthy, right perspective of yourself.
(1 Peter 2:9 NLT) But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.
- Get around people who see me the way God sees me.
(Proverbs 27:17 NKJV) As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance (identity) of his friend.