When you think about the people in your life, with whom are you the toughest? For whom do you have unusually high expectations? Who do you typically judge the most? Who do you look at and think, “you could be doing so much more” or “you could be so much better if you just did...”? Who do you not jump at the chance to defend?
I don’t know about you but reading those questions the answer is often myself! I remember one time I was complaining about myself to another person, and they said, “Hey! Don’t talk about my friend like that!” It was a funny response to me, but if you think about it, why do we do that? Why are we so quick to beat ourselves up and be so hard on ourselves? I’d even go so far as to say that we would never say or think the things we do about ourselves about others. So, why do we do it?
It’s like we think we are supposed to be perfect, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard than we do the people around us. But what if we accepted the grace in our lives that Jesus so freely offers us rather than treating ourselves in a way that would cause others to think we believe that grace is for them, but not for ourselves. Here’s the thing: Jesus didn’t call us to be perfect. He called us to be His. And He accepts us just the way we are. He takes our brokenness and makes it beautiful. He loves us fully and completely. Not for who we try and pretend to be or strive to be but fall short but for who He created us to be. His daughter.
The next time you look in the mirror, instead of beating yourself up about some minor imperfection you may see that no one else sees, spend some time thinking about the way God sees you. Think about how proud He is of you and how much He loves you.
How is God inviting you to become more welcoming of yourself and who He created you to be?
Author: Gracie Martin
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