When I was in grade school, we made stuff which we brought home to our parents. Some of those things were hung up but were terrible works of art. Yet my mom, no matter, would just ooh and ahh over it, telling me what a great artist I was. To this day, she get’s out and hangs up a Christmas candle I “cross-stitched” on burlap in the fifth grade!
You know, the world and culture tell us a couple of things. We are either put together or thrown together. And if we buy everything they are selling…if we look like them…they say, we are put together. However, if we don’t have the right amount of money, or are pretty, or have overachieving children, or have scars from an unhealthy body, well, we are thrown together.
Most of us have a story to tell because we are not perfect. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to keep up with Malibu Barbie and Malibu Ken! But the writer of Psalms tells us something all of us need to hear. He spells it out in Psalms 139, reminding us that God put us together, that we are special and unique, that God has actually known us even before we were born and has a plan for us as an adopted member of His family.
See, our security in who we are cannot come from culture or Malibu. Our security comes from being in Christ and must flow from the inside out. As Christ-followers, it seems basic. However, we get pressured everyday in believing the voices that tell us we are not pretty enough, or smart enough, or rich enough, or fit enough, well you get the picture.
Jesus himself took issue with this mentality in Matthew 23 when He dresses down the religious leaders of his day. Jesus reminds them the outward appearance means nothing, zero, nada. It’s what’s on the inside, in the heart, that really counts.
So, every day, we thank God for creating us in His image and loving us unconditionally. We are humbled knowing there’s nothing we can do to ultimately to change the way He made us. Sink into the words of the Psalmist as he reminds us of how intimately God knows you and how much He has for you in the days ahead…
“You, God, made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalms 139:13-16 NLT
So be confident that we have a new, fresh life in Jesus. God is FOR you every day. His plans for you far outweigh anything the world could promise. He’s adopted you into his family which means you have everything the King owns already. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God’s work is evident in you. Blessings on your journey.