Be Yourself - Martin Wiles

Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. 1 Samuel 17:38-39 NLT

“I want to be like you when I grow up.”

Who you was varied. As a youngster, I had the same heroes others did. Boys wanted to be doctors, lawyers, policemen, and firemen. Girls wanted to be mothers, nurses, and teachers. I suppose parents put these notions in their heads. These were honorable professions—and they paid decent money. Some boys also had sport’s participants as their heroes. A great basketball, football, or baseball player, even though statistically, very few who played sports then, or now, would ever make it to the big league.

I’m not sure the heroes have changed much, other than now girls can work in professions that once only boys could. And some boys choose professions that only women once occupied. Though still present, glass ceilings aren’t as steadfast as they once were.

Heroes are everywhere … and important for us to have—as long as wanting to mimic a person or work in a profession doesn’t take us away from reality or ourselves. It did for David, and he discovered doing so didn’t work.

When Goliath the giant emerged and taunted the Israelites and their God, David went to the king and told him he’d fight the pagan. As a shepherd boy, he had killed lions and bears. The king insisted that David put on his armor. David tried it on, but it didn’t fit. It wasn’t him. He knew only a robe, a staff, and a club. With his shepherd’s bag and a few stones, David took care of the giant.

God creates each of us uniquely. When we try to be someone else, we only discover failure and disappointment. Happiness, fulfillment, joy, and peace come from doing what God wants us to do, regardless of whether it fits society’s norm or fulfills the expectations of someone else—even our parents or grandparents.

Raising a child in the way they should go involves noticing their God-given talents and gifts and encouraging them to use them for God’s purposes. Finding our place in this world involves personal introspection of those gifts and talents. When we pray and seek direction from God, He’ll show us the right path.

Rather than listening to what others tell us to become, we should pay attention to God’s directives. Competition and jealousy are rife in our world, but doing what God wants us to do—and enjoying the journey He takes us on—brings satisfaction as nothing else can.

Don’t follow what others want you to become; be the person God created you to be.

Prayer: Father, guide us along the path You have appointed for us to travel.

Tweetable: What keeps you from being yourself? 

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Be Yourself - Martin Wiles

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

Her life was normal until she was one and a half years old. Then her world changed.

As a young child, Helen Keller contracted either scarlet fever or meningitis. The sickness left her blind and deaf. Anne Sullivan arrived as her teacher when Helen was six years old. At seven, Helen entered Perkins Institute for the Blind. Later, she attended a school for the deaf in New York. She entered The Cambridge School for Young Ladies when she was fourteen. At twenty, she enrolled in Radcliffe College. Four years later, she graduated cum laude—the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Helen’s achievements didn’t stop there. She became a world-famous speaker who campaigned for civil rights, labor rights, birth control, and world peace. Additionally, she authored many books and essays on these topics. President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. The following year, she was elected to the National Women’s Hall of Fame at New York’s World Fair. In 1971, she was inducted into Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. Despite her disabilities, Helen Keller became whom God created her to be.

According to Paul, those who belong to Christ by way of asking His forgiveness for their sins are new people. Old things disappear; new life arrives. A new nature with new wants, desires, and options replaces the old sinful nature which led to nothing but dead ends.

My identity isn’t about obeying a list of rules, although some think so. Not that rules aren’t important—especially God’s rules. But some rules are manmade—not God made—and merely spring out of worn-out traditions. Being whom God created me to be is about His grace, about love and forgiveness, and about the new position He places me in.

Through grace, God gives me what I don’t deserve: forgiveness and a position in His family. Forgiveness erases the condemnation label. God now sees me in Christ, not plastered with sin.

Living as God created me to live requires believing what God says about me—not what others might label me as. When I let God form me into the person He created me to be, I experience life at its best—abundant life.

Don’t let circumstances hold you back. Ignore the labels others place on you. All that matters is what God says, and He says you are loved and valuable.

Tweetable: Are you being whom God created you to be?

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to accept whom You say we are so we will let You form us into those persons.

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