unREAL

It's hard to believe the truth when common culture tells us
lies.

I have been thinking about this lately, ever since my tiny
six-year old cousin told me that she needed to lose weight.

WHERE did she learn this?!

But the answer is--it's everywhere.

Lose Weight. Lose 20 lbs in 2 weeks!

With this one...magical....diet pill.

She just knows. Girls are "supposed" to be skinny.
To have "true worth."

I have found that
it is easy to believe lies...whether consciously or
subconsciously.

"Beauty is about appearances.
Worth is about appearances."

"God is angry with me for doing that--He loved
me more yesterday when I was "more Christian."

"I am underserving of good things. I am not that
worthwhile."

"God only sees my sin--and is disgusted."

"I am not doing anything significant in this world."

"I can't...or I shouldn't....be forgiven for this..."

"I deserve to feel constantly guilty about this..."

"I will never overcome this"

"God will never answer this prayer anyway"

And so on.

I think it is one of Satan's great weapons to
tear us down--
to make us feel powerless with the God
of all power living in us--
to make us feel like we can't make
a significant difference--

because if we truly believe
that we can't--

we won't.

We allow ourselves to be defined by wordly things--
by human words, failures, successes, compliments,
criticisms....and it's empty.

From Ephesians 1:

Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose
us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family
by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure...
He has showered His kindness on us, along with all
wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 2:

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in
Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for
us long ago."

Thats truth.

And I wonder....

How would the world be different if we viewed
ourselves in the way that God views us?