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!

You are valuable because God your Creator says so and don’t let anyone ever try to convince you of anything different!  A lot of us living in this world have a messed up self-image.  Our self-image has gotten messed up for a lot of different reasons.  We live in a world with constantly competing messages that confuse us on many different levels.  We have developed a self-talk that is destructive, rather than constructive and we tend to see the glass half empty, rather than half full!

We need to fix our self-image the right way!  The right way is God’s way!  Our messed up self-image impacts everything we do or attempt to do and often in very negative ways!  Some people would have you think that a good self-image is a bad thing, but it is not bad, if it is built on the right foundation and this is what we are going to take a little time this week to try to accomplish!

The truth is:  Self image produces reality!  The right foundation to build and develop a good self-image is on and in a right relationship with God our Creator through Jesus Christ our Savior!  To begin to develop a good self-image, we have to actually start out with bad news!

The bad news is that we are sinners!  We have missed the mark, we don’t measure up and we cannot ever be or do good enough to measure up.  In our own strength and limited power, we are doomed to failure and eternal separation from all that is meaningful.  This bad news is what allows us, what helps us to look for and receive the Good News!  The good news is that we have a Creator, Who loves us and has a plan for our lives.  He has made a way, where there was no way!

There Is Good News!  We are sinners and our sin separates us from God.  We deserve to always be separated from Him, but God out of His great love for us, sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and pay the price for our sin debt that we could not pay.  If we will admit our sin condition and accept Jesus, then we will be forgiven and restored to a real and right relationship with God.

This relationship with God is what makes us valuable!  If you are not in this relationship, then take time today to discover your Creator, Who loves you and has an amazing plan for your life.  Take a look at the bad reality of sin and what it costs you and accept the payment that Jesus made, receive Him as your Savor and make Him your Lord.  See the value that God has placed in you and begin to live in and through the power that this value provides!

All this week we will be looking to unfold the reality of the value that God gives us.  Please join me each day as we take a little time to get our hearts and minds focused in the right direction and remember:  You are valuable, because God says so!