The world is continually trying to drag you down.  People around you, sometimes even those closest to you – are filling your life with all of the wrong messages.  A lot of the time, it is not with any negative intentions, it is just that people get stuck living in negativity and can’t find the way out and don’t want or know how to help anyone else to find the way out either!

We are God’s children and He desires for our lives to be filled with grace, hope, faith and love.  You can’t have grace, hope, faith and love and be pessimistic!  With God’s grace, hope, faith and love, you have to live optimistic and positive, because you know that God is doing something, even if you don’t see it and especially if you don’t  understand it!

This week we have been talking about the reality that we are valuable, because God says so!  Let’s wrap this up by reminding ourselves of the obvious:

1.) When You See Yourself As God Sees You, Then You Will Live Positive And Optimistic!  You were created in God’s image and this is no small thing.  God has an amazing plan for your life, even and especially when things don’t look like they are working the way they should.  We have all made mistakes and we are all sinners, but God loves us, will forgive us and head our lives in the direction of blessing, if we will trust Him!

2.) You Were Made In The Image Of God And This Really Gives You Value!  Stop striving for the approval of others.  You most likely will not get it and if you do, you won’t to keep it.  The approval of others will not do for you what you want it to do, at best it is a temporary fix, a hit to get you through the next moment.  Don’t settle for the limited of man, when you were created for the unlimited of God.  Feel good about who God made you to be and get excited about what God allows you to do!  You can base your self-image on what the world says or on what God says – the choice is yours!

3.) The Big Question:  Does The Image I Have Of Myself Line Up With Who God Says I Am?  You are a priceless treasure!  Yes, you make mistakes, but God loves you anyway!  God’s love us based on who we are, not what we do!  You are a work in progress!  Don’t focus on your weakness, instead focus on your God and He will help you overcome your weakness for His glory!

You are valuable!  Believe it!  Live It!  Encourage Others To Do The Same!  You Will Be Glad You Did!

You are valuable!  It’s easy to buy into the message that our world is continually shouting out at us and believe that we are nothing, but this is just not true!  We are something special and this is not just positive self talk, this is reality as God created it to be.  What I am about to share with you is proof positive that you are valuable, that you do matter and that there is an amazing plan and purpose for your life!

Fix Your Self Image!  Because you are valuable, you need to continually be working to fix, grow and strengthen your self-image!  Here are three things you need to remind yourself of continually:

1.)  You Were Made In The Image Of God!  In Genesis 1:27  it says:  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  Stop striving for the approval of others and feel good about who God made you to be!  You have a choice to make:  You can base you self-image on what the world says or what God says – your choice and the choice should be obvious – you were created in the image of God!

2.)  You Were Bought At A Great Price!  (God has a plan for your life!)  I Corinthians 6:20 says: “20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies”  I love the way John 3:16 puts it:  “For God so loved the world (put your name here) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever (Put your name here) believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life!”  You are valuable and your value comes from God, not what others think or say!  Psychologist have proven that our mind completes the picture, in other words if you see yourself in a negative way, then you will live a negative life!  See yourself as unqualified, unattractive, inferior and inadequate and you will act in conjunction with your thoughts and be unqualified, unattractive, inferior and inadequate!  See yourself in a positive way and you will have a positive life!  See yourself as qualified, attractive, ready, willing and able and you will act in conjunction with your thoughts and be qualified, attractive, ready, willing and able!  Here is an amazing truth:  We become what we allow our mind to focus on!  (Negative or Positive?)  Focus on the reality that you are valuable because God says so!

3.)  You Are Worth Coming Back For!  In John 14:1-4 we read these amazing words:  “1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”   Jesus is coming to get us and He wants us to be together with HIm!  If that does not make you feel valuable, then I don’t know what will?  2 Corinthians 4:7 says  7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  Our value is in us and it has been put in us by God our Creator!  My body will one day go in the ground, but my spirit goes on into eternity where there are no tomorrows, only today with the Lord!

Why You Are Valuable:  You are valuable, because God created you in His image, because God paid the ultimate price of His only Son’s life so that you can have relationship and because He is coming back to get you to take you into an amazing future that words cannot even come close to describing!  Find the value in you and in others – you will be glad you did!

We need to protect and work to enhance our self-image, because it is either a lid or a ladder.  A limited or negative self-image will act as a lid and never allow us to rise any higher than we see ourselves.  An unlimited or positive self-image will act as a ladder and grant us the opportunity to climb to places that we only dreamed off.

We speak, act, react and live based on the image we have of ourselves.  How we see ourselves is influenced by a lot of different things.  The things that people say to us, the things we say to ourselves, victories, defeats, opportunities, failures, success, friends, enemies, family, work and just life in general all contribute to the image, which in turn contributes to how we live life – the “who we are – based on what we do” syndrome!

Many of us walk around with a negative soundtrack playing in our heads.  We have been fed a steady and almost constant stream of negative.  Live in this world long enough and you are sure to get more than a dose of negative.  It’s on television almost every second of everyday.  It’s in the music that most of us play without even thinking about it.  Our conversations are sprinkled with a rather high dose of the negative stuff, which is often disguised as witty sarcasm.  It all adds up to a negative soundtrack that plays again and again with the same repeating and defeating message:  “You are nothing, you do not matter and you never will.  You are going to mess this up, because you always have and you always will.  Don’t even waste your time trying.  People are going to laugh at you and everyone will know that you are a nothing and a nobody!”

We do not and should not live our lives by that negative and defeating message, instead we should live our lives by the positive and victorious message that flows from the Throne Of Heaven, which says that I am somebody very valuable and highly favored.  When I realize that I am a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace, then my self-image is built upon what He has done, not what I have or have not done.  This solid foundation gives me exactly what I need to build a positive life of expectancy, which encourages me to be and do my all for God’s glory and man’s blessing.

It really is a very simple thing:  Thoughts turn into actions and actions make reality!  If you want to change your reality and make it into something better than it is, then you have to start living with the right actions and reactions.  The best way to live with the right actions and reactions is to start thinking right thoughts.  Not negative, but positive.  Not thoughts that tear down, but thoughts that build up.  Not thoughts that limit you, but thoughts that un-limit you!  God’s Word is full of such thoughts.  There are friends you can discover that will help to fill your life and head with these thoughts.

Don’t let your self-image become a lid that holds you back and keeps you down by trapping you with negative and self-defeating thoughts.  Instead take time to nurture and grow your self-image, so that it will act as a ladder of positive and victorious thoughts that allow you to climb even higher than you could dream or imagine!  You will be glad you did!