When You Don’t Like Yourself

Do you feel so unhappy with some things about yourself that you are willing to go to extreme measures to change who you are? - Clint Decker

Do you like who you are? I am sure all of us wish we could change a few things about ourselves. Even the most beautiful or handsome among us. But I am asking something deeper. Do you feel so unhappy, so uncomfortable with some things about yourself that you are willing to go to extreme measures to change who you are?

You are not alone. Many are traveling this path. Let me help you. Let me take you back to the essence of who you really are and where you came from. I am not talking about your family. Large numbers of people come from difficult homes. Many were raised by a single parent, their grandparents, or have experienced the trauma of abuse. I want to take you back further than family.

Let us go back to where all of us have come from. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ So God created man in his own image…male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…’” (Genesis 1:26,27-28)

This is where you and I have come from. We have been created by Almighty God. Before you were born, you were fashioned together by Him. You are not a product of science or biology, but a miracle of the one who fills the universe with His presence.

He made you a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, and did not make a mistake. Sometimes it can feel like He did when we look at other people and compare, or listen to the hurtful words of others or the destructive voices in our own mind. Here is the truth. You were made by the one who sits as King of the Earth on His throne in heaven.

What is the evidence of this? You were made in God’s image, and the imprint of His likeness is upon you. Where does your laugh come from, or your ability to love, gain knowledge, be creative, show kindness and a host of other things? It all comes from God. This is who He is and He gave some of His likeness to each of us along with physical life. For it is not just your heart, blood and brain that keeps you going. Ultimately, it was God’s Spirit that breathed life into you that made you come alive! And one day, that life will be withdrawn from you upon death.

Even though we are a wonderful creation of God, there is something not right. Something is amiss. Each one of us was born with a bent towards disobeying our Creator. The bent is called sin. It has touched everything God has created in us and corrupted it all. We love, but only certain people. We gain knowledge, but it may not be good or edifying. We are creative, but not in always creating honorable things.

And sometimes this corruption shows itself in the rejection of what God has made – ourselves. This is the root of why we often want to change who we are. Instead of giving God thanks for how He made us and loving ourselves just as we are, we condemn ourselves and want to change what God has made. God is not pleased when we reject what He has made and called good.

What is the answer? God sent His only Son to rid us of this internal brokenness. If we turn from our disobedience and to God by faith, we will instantly become a new person. Then the wall separating God and us, will be torn down. You will be one with Him. The One who made you, and finally, you will be able to see yourself through His eyes.

A prayer for you. Lord God, I pray for those who look at themselves and want to change who they are. Open their eyes to see how they were created by you. Help them to see how there is corruption within them causing all this. Bring them to turn from their sin, and to faith in Christ. Then lift the veil of darkness so they can see and be made new by the light of Jesus. In His name. Amen.