Learning to Be Content with WHO YOU ARE Lesson 7

I'm always amazed how God emphases a truth everywhere when you are studying His Word. In my Sunday School class this week the main text was in I Samuel 16, and the theme was jealousy, As you probably already noticed, the verse for the week is from this chapter. As I meditate on the lesson in my class, a person who is jealous cannot be content with who they are in their relationship with God, because they are looking on outward appearance, not the heart.

Self-Image is a focal point in our society today. We are always reminded to look at who we are, what we have and if we match the standards that someone else has set. If we don't "measure up," it negatively influences our social life, job, and relationships. We have a need to feel loved, accepted, and successful and it is crucial to our emotional and spiritual well-being. What is the mental picture you have of yourself? Is it a Biblically accurate realistic picture?

We each need to learn to see ourselves as God sees us. No one is as emotionally or spiritually well-balanced as we would like to be. As we reflect on our life, we should see positive steps being taken forward as we mature in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. "PBPGIFWMY". Have you ever seen the bumper sticker with these initials? They stand for "please be patient God isn't finished with me yet!" I'm reminded the the Scripture that says when we are born-again, having just begun your relationship with God, you are like a babe, drinking and understanding only the milk of the Word. But as you grow in your faith you can begin to eat meat, or understand the deeper things of God. Are you growing in your spiritual faith? If you are, you will be learning to be content with who you are.

Open your Bible to Ephesians 4:17-29. As you study this passage you will see, as you grow, there will be changes in your desires, attitudes, and self-image. If you are not growing you will not be content with who you are. You will be moody, depressed, frustrated, irritable, jealous, and have a low-self image. As you continue in this chapter you will find you should be putting away those old attitudes and putting on the new person, full of kindness, forgiving, loving, tenderness because you are becoming more life Christ. Which person is more content with who they are? The person with bad attitudes and actions or the one with good attitudes?

This change cannot happen on it's own. Nor can these changes happen without Christ. God is the only one who can transform us. Read Romans 12:1 & 2. We are to present or give ourselves as a living sacrifice: holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. The normal thing for a child of God to do, give themselves completely over to God. Don't be conformed to the world or the things of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You can choose to try stopping old habits, but they need to be replaced with a new God honoring habit.

Remember, just because the world may look perfect in our eyes ("as seen on TV") it is not. Why do the "successful" actors often die young by their own hand? Are they content with who they are even by the world standards? It is impossible to ever be content with who you are if you are basing your contentment on the standards of this world. Romans 12:3 says "do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think soberly, according as God hath dealt to everyone man a measure of faith."


Do you know how Christ sees you? As you mature in your love for God and begin to see yourself as He sees you, all of your desires for love and acceptance begin to be fulfilled.

• You are loved eternally and unconditionally Jeremiah 31:3
• You are a friend of God. John 15:13-15
• You have strength to do all things through Christ. Philippians 4:13
• Christ lives in you. Galatians 2:20
• You have wisdom from God. James 1:5
• You have been delivered from sin and it's penalty I John 1:6 & Ephesians 1:7

This is how God sees you. When you see yourself as God sees you, you will begin to realize your value and worth to God and you will become content with who you are... the daughter of the King of Kings!

My acceptance is based on Who God is and what He has done for me, not what I do for Him. I am created in Christ Jesus a workmanship. God wants me to succeed and have a sense of significance. When I sin or fail, He still loves me and still forgives me. Because I am of value to Him, He is always looking out for my best. Walk by faith, obey God, grow in the truth of His Word and learn to be content with who you are! God didn't made not junk!

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