Here is what I have been learning, no amount of what people say about you or think that you are will ever amount to what the truth God says is about you. We live in a gossip world, and a world where people like to judge you for your past mistakes, or make assumptions about who you are. But I have a truth for you that will rock your world. Whatever you’ve done, who ever anyone else says you are, IS NOT REALLY YOU. It is so easy to buy into the lies that the world and the enemy is telling you. They are constantly telling you: “you aren’t good enough”, “Your sin is TOO great”, “God doesn’t really love you because you committed THAT sin”, “you will never compare to that girl,” “You will never live up to those expectations”, “you will fail”. Yup, I’ve heard them, I believed them, and I fell into a really low place because I thought that the lies were true. I used to think that the way people perceived you must be how you really are. But that is not true, because there is something so much bigger than the gossip everyone is saying about you or what the enemy is trying to get you to believe. People are going to say whatever they want about you, they will try and define you because that is all they know to do, and they will try to put you in a box or category or judge you for whatever you have done. That is on them, not on you. It was their choice to gossip about you, spread lies, and give into the world around them. It is YOUR choice how you respond. Some worldly responses could be confronting that person, or believe what they have said about you and getting anxiety and falling into a low place. But I encourage you to have a GODLY response to whatever happens, to fix your eyes and focus on the bigger picture. You will go deeper into your faith and grow as a person if you just change your perspective on things.
I think another thing we can buy into is that our past, or the sins we’ve committed were too great for us to move forward, or for God to even love us. That is a lie. We are not our past. There is a difference in constantly falling into your sin and repenting for it and moving on from it. When you chose to change, when you chose to grow, you leave that sin behind you. You move on and become who God really wants you to be. You are not the person you were two months ago, two weeks ago, or even two days ago. The Lord is so gracious and so kind that no matter what you do or who you were GOD WILL STILL AND ALWAYS AND FOREVER LOVE YOU!! I think some people need to realize that. I know I have let my past get in the way and I focused too much on who I was and not who I was striving to be.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
Jeremiah 1:5 I knew you before I formed you in your mothers womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nation
Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
When we feast off the idea of what the world wants we’ll end up feeling lonely and not good enough, like no one will ever know us. But wanna know something really cool, God knows who you really are. He knows every corner of your heart and every secret you’ve ever held. And what’s even cooler, he LOVES every single part of you. He loves it TRULY, so if you think you don’t belong in this label you’ve been put in or you think you don’t match the perception other people think you are. Trust me, that is perfectly okay, because here’s the truth, you do not belong on this Earth. This is not your home. Here is another truth, God has known you and your heart before you were even born. So if some girl calls you something, or you’ve done something that may not be “Godly”, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy into the lie the enemy is trying to tell you. God does not think that of you. The Lord knows who you truly are and that is NOT what the world think of you. Your identity is in Christ, when you walk into a room people are going to know you for your love of Christ and that is the only thing that matters. It is a BOLD way to live when you live with your identity in Christ. I encourage you to shed the identity this world has given you and put on the free and lovely identity that is yours in Christ.