Some days I wake up feeling sorry for myself, but I shouldn’t…
…because Christ is never sorry for me. He never sighs and shakes His head and thinks, “Man, saving Nicole…what a waste.”
No. He sees me and thinks, “There she is, my beloved. My daughter. How I love her.”
And I don’t know about you, but it can be so easy for me to forget who I am, to wallow in self-pity, to revel in my mediocrity…
But, if I really know who I am, who He says I am, well, that kind of thinking should be impossible. If I stopped to ask myself, “What does God really think of me?” I might be surprised by the answer.
God says I am (and you are)…
The elect
A saint
His beloved
His child
Adopted
Heirs of the kingdom
A member of the body of Christ
Sojourners with God
Citizens of the Kingdom of heaven
A royal priesthood
Servant
A holy nation
His special people
Brethren of Christ
Children of promise
Chosen vessels
The excellent
Light of the world
Salt of the earth
Ransomed of God
I admit that when I see lists like this, I gloss over them and think “Yeah, yeah, I know I know..I’m a saint.” But if you really take the time to read these words, and digest these words, not just scan them, you might feel what I felt, as I typed them…
…Encouraged and convicted (Please re-read the list, if necessary, and really pause on each one).
How amazing to know that the Creator of the Universe calls me His adopted child. The power of that reality is indescribable. He adopted me. He chose me as His own, gave me His name, and now I belong to His family. It is a remarkable event if you stop to consider it.
It is easy for me to assume that God thinks of me in many of the same ways I think of myself–inadequate, lazy, hopeless, ineffective, average.
But according to His word, that is simply not the case. I am a child of promise–the promise of eternal life that is in Jesus Christ. I am also the excellent, which again, I admit, I don’t really feel. Mediocre? Yes. Excellent? Not so much.
But it doesn’t matter what I think or even what I feel. It really doesn’t. It only matters what He says and what He thinks and God thinks I am worth dying for…
…and that should be enough.
Which of the descriptions in the list stood out to you? Were you left feeling convicted, encouraged, both, or something else? What do you tend to think God thinks of you?
This is a great list. I’ll have to copy this to remind myself regularly.
I think this is a constant battle for all of us. None of us realize how broken and sinful we are, and none of us realize how esteemed we are in God’s eyes. What stuck out to me? Being brethren with Christ. The idea that he will not be ashamed to call us brothers – wow.
Loren, I like the word you used: “esteemed.” We are esteemed in God’s eye’s, but only (and thankfully) because of Jesus. I love knowing that when God looks at me, He sees Christ wrapped around me…
Good words Nicole. I love the list. For me I wake sometimes and know I am not enough. The thing is God tells us if we give Him all of ourselves, that is plenty. He will make up any difference.
I like Sojourner. cool
Ken, so well said and man, can I relate. I am painfully aware of the fact that I am not enough, but as you said, HE IS.
…more than enough, in fact. Amen.
Thanks for the good word, Nicole!
Fifty years of being an evangelical has left me with the overwhelming belief that God considers me – disappointing. I never live up to the standards that I am constantly reminded that He holds over my head. Why wouldn’t He be continually disappointed in me?
Only in the past few weeks have I begun to consider that that might not actually be the case.
Ed, in truth, my heart breaks to read your words, but I also empathize having struggled with similar thoughts myself.
It baffles me that so many of us fall for this lie. It is no where in scripture. God certainly never treats me like a disappointment, and yet, that lie still lingers.
My father-in-law who struggled with similar thoughts for years, once had the revelation that God does not merely tolerate him, He delights in Him. It was a game-changing moment for him.
For myself, a radical change came when I actually prayed for forgiveness and repented of my wrong thinking about God the Father. In an instant, literally, I felt different. I felt my mind reshaped by the power of the Spirit. I still struggle with these thoughts form time to time, but God removed so much.
I tell you this Ed, just o encourage you, that you are not alone, and that God does want to free you from this kind of thinking. All you need do, is ask.
Nicole, while I appreciate your sentiment, I can’t help but be struck by the irony of what you suggest. Your solution, if I understand it correctly, identifies yet another way that I have now fallen short of God’s ideals and fallen into sin, and of which I must now repent. I am now guilty of the sin of wrong thinking about God. This is kind of my point…. Evangelicals keep inventing new sins, and tossing guilt and condemnation at each other. Somehow that seems to be making the problem worse, not better.
While I understand your point, I don’t believe that in, my personal experience, I was “inventing a sin.” At the time I had been listening to a sermon series called The Fatherhood of God. The teacher spoke directly to those who have known intellectually who God is, but have acted differently instead choosing to believe He is someone else i.e., a bad father, or uninterested, or absent. It was called sin, in this instance, because it is essentially calling God a liar. I cannot speak for you, but instantly upon hearing this I was convicted. I knew that I had spent years calling Him a liar, when I knew good and well that He is not.
That is sin, in my estimation, at least it was for me. If we define sin as a willful rejection of Truth, well then, that is exactly what I was doing. And the moment I acknowledged that I was rejecting His truth, the moment He began transforming my thinking.
Calling something sin is not us placing a label on ourselves, as you allude to, where we are once again falling short of God’s ideals. That is what the enemy would have you believe is the never ending cycle. I choose to instead focus on what God asks us to do when we see sin in our lives, which is acknowledge it before Him, ask for forgiveness, and move on. This can literally be a 2 minute process. If we really believe Christ does not condemn us, then we must also believe that when “we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us.” 1John 1:9
I was, by no means, attempting to condemn you or judge you for your thinking. I was only sharing from my own personal experience. While you would argue that Evangelicals are often “inventing” sin and judging one another, I would argue, that all too often believers operate under an attitude of liberty that prevents them from seeing their own sin for what it is.
Thanks for the explanation. Sorry if I went off on you half-cocked. Your insights are appreciated.
Wise words, Nicole. I tend to forget and need to be reminded that I am His child from time to time.
Dustin, it’s interesting that you find it easier to forget you are His child. However, it makes sense. We think of ourselves so often as His servants, saints, workers, etc…all to often neglecting to remember that we are His kids…a very special relationship in indeed.
Wow, Nicole!
You have such interesting ideas and ways of looking at the Bible and all that’s within it. I appreciate your fresh examination of who we are in Christ. I’m encouraged by your heart, girl!
Kirsten, hey thanks for the nice words. I’m blessed by them, truly.
For way too long I thought of the worst…that God saw me as I saw me. Your list just resonates so deeply in my heart right now. “Brethren of Christ” rings the deepest. Thank you for this!
Jason, gosh, it can be so easy to think God magnifies the worst things in us, but nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, He takes our worst, ugliest, least desirable parts and somehow manages to make them shiny, new, and able to bring Him glory. It is a remarkable process.
Blessings to you, my brethren in Christ.
What a great list, and a good reminder. Your posts are always exactly what I need to hear. I guess if this is how God sees me, I should start acting like those things!
Thanks for another awesome post!
Chelsea, thanks for the encouragement. Glad you feel reminded of who you are…
My identity is found in HIM!…I am whatever he says i am!!!
Why?
Because I have been Crucified with Christ! I no Longer Live! But He lives in me!!!
great encouraging thoughts today!
love it!
Arny, exactly! Well said.
One of my personal favorites is, “a special people”. It always gets me because I don’t think that there is anything special about me at all but God sure does. It really touches my heart that he would think that I’m special :-)
Peter, so true. “Special” is such a unique word for God to use to describe us. He means what He says.
His child really works for me having been orphaned at an early age hahaha I love u daddy