Accepting Yourself

Steve Arterburn

Many men seem to go about life with a kind of bravado’bold confidence and self-assurance. The truth, however, is that most of us wish we were different somehow.  If only you were as outgoing as Jack ‘if you were as physically fit as Mary ‘if you had the financial sense of Tom ‘a full head of hair like John ‘or the quick wit of Connie.  While it’s okay to admire good traits in others, often this desire to be like someone else is actually a form of covetousness, or envy.  Instead, we must learn to accept ourselves as God has made you.

Before you can truly accept yourself, however, you must first see the truth about
yourself, recognizing both the gifts and the limitations that God’s given you.  If you don’t, you will constantly be struggling to be someone you’re not.  

One way to appreciate how God has made you is to read Psalm 139.  The psalmist rejoices, ‘Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous’and how well I know it’.  

Each of us is unique and special’embraced and accepted by God himself’even though not one of us is perfect.  Spiritual renewal cannot begin until you’re willing to accept yourself as God made you.  Once you accept the truth about yourself your focus can change’and you can bring great glory to God himself; He, after all, is the one who made you, and He is the reason we live.