There are many people in our world who look in the mirror
with some form of disappointment or perhaps disgust. They see a funny looking nose, or a receding
hairline. They note that they are too
tall, or perhaps too short, too thin or maybe too rotund. Just about everyone can find something about
their appearance they are discontented with.
The fact is, God made people different. Our facial features are shaped differently,
our hair looks and acts differently, we are of different heights and weights
and our personalities, our likes, our dislikes, and our tendencies are
different as well. All those differences
were put there by God. As King David
reminds us, God knit each of us together in our mother’s womb, and the result of
that is that each of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Ps.
139:13-14) And so, if we have difficulty
accepting ourselves the way God made us, we find ourselves in conflict with our
Creator. The fact is that God created
you just as you are, and He wanted you to be that way because He loves you and
wants to glorify Himself through you.
I have been rereading Jerry Bridges’ wonderful book Trusting
God with my summer intern Chris.
This week we read the chapter about trusting God for who you are. It is a chapter that challenges the reader to
trust that God knew what he was doing when he knit each of us together in our
mother’s womb. God gave us our physical
characteristics out of love, for His glory.
God gave us our personality, also out of love, for His glory. Accepting that is foundational for our
spiritual, and relational health.
Bridges quotes wise words from James Hufstetler that come right to the
point: “You will never really enjoy
other people, you will never have stable emotions, you will never lead a life
of godly contentment, you will never conquer jealousy and love others as you
should until you thank God for making you the way He did.” Friends, that is so very true.
God made you who you are biologically. Yes, that body you look at in the mirror and
perhaps cringe at – God made you like that.
He created that nose, that hairline or those funny looking toes. For me, God created me with bad eyesight,
unruly hair and crummy digestion. I can
fight those things, which I have. I can
curse God for those things, which thankfully I have not. Or I can be content with those things, which
is what I am learning to be. I also can
open my eyes to see how God can be glorified in those things. For example, my crummy digestion has caused
me all sorts of pain (literally and figuratively) over the years. As a pastor, there are times when I have to
be present, bad stomach or not. But I
can tell you two good things my bad digestion has done in me. First, it has made me more dependent and
prayerful. God’s grace has been
sufficient for me, and there have been many times His power has been made
perfect in my weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9)
Second, I have seen the faithfulness of God through it – I do not
believe my digestion has ever prevented me from fulfilling any pastoral roles
in 24 years of ministry. You see, even
our disabilities – great or small – can be used for God’s glory and our growth
in maturity.
God also made your personality. Are you funny? Are you shy?
Are you a deep thinker? God made
you that way. And although our
personalities are often so very obviously corrupted by sin, the fact is God
made you who you are from the inside.
And He can be glorified in that as well.
Think about those times when we are made aware of the ugliness of the
sin inside of us. Perhaps we struggle
with pride, or bitterness, or anger, or impatience or jealousy, the many and
varied sinful reactions to our circumstances.
But God knew we would have those reactions, and out of those reactions
He can be glorified. The sinful side of
our personality should drive us to His grace and to the cross where that grace
was demonstrated to us. Our sin should
prompt us to seek God in confession, to ask for His transforming power, and to
renew our trust that He will complete the good work He began in us. (Phil. 1:6)
All those things are for our good, and
bring God glory.
And so, whether we struggle with our outside looks or our
inward make-up, we need to be assured that God created us that way. Whether we have abilities or disabilities, we
want to learn to receive them from God.
In all those things we can learn to give thanks, and we can know that
God can and will use those things in our lives for our good and His glory.
