Do you ever feel like God made a mistake when He made you, or that maybe He was having an off day and just wasn’t giving it His best, and boom, there you were?
Most days, deep down in my spirit I think I’m something pretty special, and in fact I have been accused more than once of being my biggest fan. But then I look around me I see so many people that are so gifted, so creative, so…above average that my self-esteem disappears like a puff of smoke in the wind.
My immediate family consists of a wife and three daughters, all of whom are smart and creative and funny and among whom at times I feel like a plain old rock in a nest of diamonds. I know that I made a deposit in the genetic mix at some point, but I occasionally wonder how much of me God actually used. Fortunately, the Bible has some things to say about man in general and myself in particular that give me peace and joy and challenge me not to give in to my usual self-analysis.
The first word of encouragement is found pretty early in the scripture in Genesis 1:26,27
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
We are not a mistake, nor are we a byproduct of God trying to keep from being bored. An infinitely creative God was creating. Man is the apex of God’s creation, and as a man that is my heritage.
I may not look like much but looks can be deceiving. Humankind (that is both men and women) are His image bearers. We are distinctly different and yet we are all human, all created after His likeness.
We are not only made to bear His image, we were created to have authority over the rest of his creatures. We are the dominant creature, even though we are not the largest or the strongest. We may not even be the smartest, yet we were made to rule.
How can this be? It is because that is the way God made it.
The second word of encouragement is found in Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We have been created not only to be caretakers of the creation, but to be blessings to the creation; to add beauty and color and good to what is currently an exceedingly fallen world very much in need of exactly what we, through Christ, have to give.
Folks, I want to challenge you. God doesn’t waste skin, and He doesn’t make junk.
You are not a mistake nor an afterthought. You can often hear a Jesus follower say to people, “If you could see yourself through the eyes of God you would see how special you are!.” But, that goes for all of us. I don’t know anyone who has caught more than a glimpse of this phenomenal truth. Take a few minutes and google "But never give up trying. Never quit. Click this link and discover more truths about how God views you. https://www.openbible.info/topics/how_god_sees_us
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