Who Are You Anyway?

I started a new series this week on defining who we are. The number one thing that will either drive us to success in life or sentence us to a life of mediocrity or failure is our self-image.

Our self-image or self-esteem is generally formed by our experiences and opinions of others. Throughout our lives we become sort of like an onion -- layer upon layer. We add these layers over time to try and become what we think others want us to be.

Instead we need to understand how and why God values us. Let's look at the summary of what the world uses to determine one's value:

1. Looks
2. Intelligence
3. Abilities
4. Accomplishments

All of those things will eventually let you down if you rely on them to determine your value. Today's hottest movie stars or models will all eventually get old. You will always find someone smarter than you -- even in something you thought you were an expert in. Even superstar athletes begin to lose their exceptional abilities at an early age. There will always be more that you could have accomplished.

Here is God's list for determining your value:

1. You exist

That's it. Now, I know that is hard for us to grasp. God values each one of us so much for no other reason than we exist. In fact, Romans 5 tells us that even while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for the sins of ALL mankind.

We live in a competitive world. It is very difficult for us to get beyond the idea that God sees us all of the same value. When the world tries to see everyone as equal it attempts to bring everyone DOWN to a lowest common denominator to make them equal. However, God sees us all as the winners in life. He wants to bring you UP to that level.

When He sees us all as winners it is not like elementary school track and field day when the kid who stopped for a milkshake and a nap in middle of the 50-yard dash gets the same "you're all winners" ribbon as the kid who set the world record for 3rd graders.

To be a success, we must see ourselves as the success that God made us to be.

In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart. But the second most important thing is like the first -- to love your neighbor as yourself. If you can't love yourself, you cannot love your neighbor. If you cannot value yourself like God values you, you won't be able to value another of God's creation.

This second commandment is LIKE the first because it is about valuing God's creation. If you love God, you will value what He has made and has called valuable. This includes yourself.

Humility is important. True humility is NOT about devaluing yourself. It is understanding that any good thing in your life is because of how God made you and not what you have done. But you can love what God has made.

If you want to know what you really think of yourself, pay attention to the internal voice that plays in your head -- particularly when faced with a challenging task. This will tell you how you see yourself.

Over the coming weeks we will discuss how to change the way we see ourselves by using the Word.

Making the TRANSITion

We have been discussing the keys to transitioning from being a teenage, youth group attendee to becoming an adult with a thriving Christian walk. One key to making that happen is staying plugged into your church.

We see a high number of teens who graduate out of youth group and subsequently stop attending church. Certainly we know that some go away to college. Others may find that another church might be a better fit for them; and that's OK. But there should be far more young adults in our congregation once they move beyond the high school ministry.

When studying the common factors that the young adults who remain connected to the church possess, I found two that were almost 100% reliable indicators:

1. They frequently attended main sanctuary services in addition to youth ministry services
2. They began serving in another area of the church while still in high school

We have been discussing the importance of these two things as well as how to change our habits to incorporate these and others that will help us thrive into adulthood.

There will be some exciting changes coming to the overall structure to our ministry to help facilitate an atmosphere that will encourage better connection to our adult and young adult ministries.