(1 Cor 7:17) . . . as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk . . .
Do you have a hard time being yourself? Do you ever feel you have to be someone else because you don’t like what you see? Or are people’s expectations looming over you to be somebody else than who you really are?
Sometimes we don’t like what we see in ourselves. We can be down about our looks and therefore hate when people try to take our picture. We’re too fat, too skinny, don’t like our nose or whatever. We despise how we look in photos or we don’t like our voice on recording or even how we laugh. We then can get into how dumb we are or how untalented we are or whatever. And when we do that then it’s easy to want to be somebody else. I think that’s why so many people look to the celebrities and the high profile people because their lives seem so much more exciting than their own. Peter kind of got into that as he looked at the life of his friend John:
(John 21:20-22) Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following . . . 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."
Jesus had a good answer for him. Be yourself, Peter. Let John be John. Your lives are different. My plan is unique for each of you. Accept how I have made you and bloom with the gifts and talents I have given you. Who knows, maybe John even wished he could have been like Peter with his boldness and having the keys of the kingdom and all (Mat 16:19).
There are times when we feel people are trying to get us to be someone other than who God made us to be. Saul tried to clothe David with his own armor to slay Goliath, but he didn’t feel comfortable:
(1 Sam 17:38-39) So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off.
David had to do it his own way. And it worked . . . Goliath came down with a simple rock out of a sling.
You’re good just the way you are. There’s only one of you ever made! You are custom built for God’s special design and purposes. No one else can fulfill what God has intended for you. Get comfortable in your own skin and stop trying to be someone else. Be that instrument God can use instead of burying yourself in the bottom of the toolbox. God loves you just the way you are, and God wants to use you just the way you are. (Rom 9:20) . . . Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?"
Louie