Shattering Toxic Beliefs And Discovering The Real YouShembull

Jerusha Clark:  Shattering Toxic Beliefs and Discovering the Real You  Devotional Day 3

Your True Identity

Scripture: John 10:10

Whatever your past, whether other people have esteemed or abused you, your Creator thinks highly of you. The Great I AM says that you are his highly prized, glorious beloved. You are precious. You are honored. You are loved.

Maybe you can accept this on a cognitive level, but your heart is weighed down by messages you’ve heard for as long as you can remember: not good enough, too much this and too little that, broken, needy, worthless. Maybe you’ve felt trapped by these lies. 

I have lived in similar bondage. Even when family and friends tell me I am loved, their words often fail to penetrate the depth of who I am. 

But if I don’t believe that the Great I AM tells me who I am, and if you don’t determine to live in that truth, too, no amount of “learning to love yourself,” no set of accomplishments or achievements, no measure of human affection will fill the gaping hole inside, the place of your true identity. You and I can choose to remain trapped in our own “I am . . .” thoughts, or we can be set free by the Great I AM. 

Every day we battle the tension of “knowing” God’s truth and “knowing” the reality of our condition. Is there hope for this sad predicament? By the grace of God, yes! But it won’t come by doing our best to prove that we’re not as bad as we think we are. It will come by allowing the Great I AM to breathe his truth into every piece of us, down to the very core of our identity. If we truly believe that we are who he says we are, everything changes. 

We simply cannot move forward without that knowledge. Indeed, I’m firmly convinced that it is impossible for us to face the sins and wounds of our past without an experiential understanding of God’s love. Without the truth of your belovedness, preciousness, and esteem in God’s eyes girding you up, the burdens of life are insupportable.

When the Great I AM tells me who I am, it matters to him that I hear it. It matters to him that you are listening to his call too. Are you? 

What difference would it make in your relationships and work to believe that God loves you? Why?