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The Courage To Be Who You Are
For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee Proverbs 23:7
God made every individual unique. There is no one else like you or equal to you. If every person would embrace their individual uniqueness, then they would be able to concentrate on excelling at who they are. We don’t have to be ashamed or feel less special because we don’t look as pretty, make as high a score or earn as much money as someone else. There are countless things that we may not be able to succeed in, but the one thing we can definitely master is being ourselves. If we believe that we are a failure, then we cannot rise above that. We will have zero chance to succeed. We will experience failure before we even start. When I started Gospel Warriors Ministries, apart from my immediate family, I had no one that believed I had even a remote chance to succeed. All of my associates in traditionalism predicted I wouldn’t make it. Not a one of them tried to help me because no one wants to be on a losing team. And to this very day, the same people I started out with are doing some tremendous things. We are currently about to go into shelters taking all kinds of needed supplies to the hurting and needy. God is using our ministry to give away as much as we can handle. It’s incredible. God sends all kinds of supplies to us, and we give it away. Before we can get rid of it, He sends more. If we listen to people, they will get into our heart and possess our thinking. They will have our expectation so low that we will have no desire to do anything. The low desire to succeed is an epidemic among Christians. We lack belief in ourselves and our ability to do or dare. We fear everything; we risk nothing. We feel like we are weak, therefore we fear what we perceive to be strong. We feel average; therefore we faint at what we perceive to be gifted. Therefore we stay in a shell where we feel safe. God created us to live with our heads up. No matter who says that we can’t make it, if God didn’t say it, it’s a lie. I consider very little of what people say about me, especially compliments. I’ve received criticism on articles that I have written, but I’m not going to stop writing until God says stop. Whenever we send out information on the web, we include an unsubscribe link so that people can easily take themselves off the mailing list. I respect every person’s right to say whatever they want, but I am comfortable with who I am and contented doing what God called me to do. No matter how much we wish we could be like someone else, we can only be ourselves. There are many people that I respect and admire, but I don’t want to be like them. I have musicians that I like to hear play and singers that I like to hear sing, but I can only be myself. If I work hard and discipline myself, then perhaps I can really improve musically, but I may never be Santana or Lorber. God made me who He wanted me to be. We are today what our choices have made us. Our parents and teachers may have had some influence, but no matter what they said to us, our choices made us. Even though we had no control over the bad things that came our way, those things did not cause us to become who we are, our choices did. I am dealing with issues now that I have no desire to be dealing with. These issues were the result of choices someone else made. They made the choices and I’m suffering for it. But I cannot allow those things to stop me. The moment we decide we are going to do better, that is when we start doing better. I’ve heard so many say, "God made me this way and that’s just the way I am". Well that’s fine, but God wants us to be the best at being ourselves. That’s not an excuse to be negative or sluggish; God made us to excel at something special. We should never be ashamed of who we are because God made us. It’s not like we had a choice. We are not worthless; we are priceless. We are not here by accident, but we were placed here on purpose. God made us who we are, placed us where we are, and gave us what we have. Now we need to do our best at being ourselves. In the book of Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44-46, Jesus spoke about valuable things like treasure and pearls. We can identify with this because they are rare and unique. That’s the way we are to Him; He gave up everything for us. That treasure and pearl is us as we are. It is not us faking it, trying to be a people pleaser or wearing a mask. It’s us as we are living for God. Pearls are very hard to find. I believe we would have to open up a lot of oysters to find one with a pearl in it. God came looking and He found us. He paid the price for us, and now He just wants to love and enjoy us. We may never make straight A’s or be a superstar. That’s O.K. Don’t apologize. Don’t compromise. God knows you and He’s satisfied. A popular gospel singing group sung a song that said, "I’m just a nobody". To be a nobody in a world where everybody is trying to be somebody else is an endless struggle. If we allow other people to define who we are, they will underestimate our value. Jesus has already proved your value on Calvary. I spent years in a church where pride and arrogance ruled. We had the best pastor with the best doctrine, the best choir and the best program. But I didn’t feel prideful; I just wanted to serve God. So I worked and worked and worked at trying to be the best. One day I got so sick and tired that I quit trying. The "best" didn’t exist. When you can’t be the best, you feel ashamed. And years of shame took a toll on my faith. The opposite of pride is not humility; it is shame. I learned to be who God said I was through His Word. I stopped trying to be who people said I was. If someone thinks that I’m average or bad, then I let them deal with it. I’m just as happy with little as much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am Philippians 4: 11-12 Message. Jesus Christ is the measure of our worth. To get an idea of our worth, we have to be able to measure His love, His death, and His sacrifice. There is within us a person of immense wealth and value. We need to be that person. Someone else’s opinion of us, whether good or bad, is simply that person’s opinion. People travel great distances to see world wonders like canyons, waterfalls, and man made things. But they pass themselves by without a thought. He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered His up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things Romans 8:32. If you are willing to be the one and only true you, then God can and will do extraordinary things through you. When God made you, He was expressing the proof of His amazing love. You can only be the best at being you. You have everything to be thankful for, and nothing to be ashamed of. Everything you have came from Him, now go and do something special.
By: Edmund Brown |