Living in Increase (Part 10) - Increase in AwarenessSample

Be You for Him

When you become a believer in Christ, your old self dies, and you are a new creation in Christ. When that happens, the Holy Spirit resides in your heart. Once you know God and discover yourself in Him, you will feel the Holy Spirit tug on your heart when you do something that grieves Him. However, God knows our hearts—He knows everything and already forgave us, so we should no longer condemn ourselves.

The Message interprets 1 John 3:18-21 like this: “My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.”

We should love ourselves. Love God and love people, but that also includes loving yourself. Jesus says, “Love others as well as you love yourself” (Mark 12.29-31 MSG). You can’t love others if you don’t love yourself. Being self-aware means being honest, authentic, and loving every inch of who God made you to be. No one else can be YOU.

I hope you are closer to knowing who you are and why you behave the way you do and that you’ve concluded that believers’ desire and motivation should always be God-centered.

Thank you, Lord, for every person reading this. They are uniquely them, and they are essential to your Kingdom. I pray that every reader has come closer to self-awareness than ever before and will continue learning about themselves while they seek You, Jesus. In Your name, I pray, amen!

Monica Barnes

Action Step: Write ten things you love about yourself. If you can’t make it to ten, borrow some verses about what God loves about you. There is so much to love about you because YOU are unique!