Insecurity. Fear. Lack of Confidence. Poor self-image. Comparison. Envy. Jealousy.

These are all things that are plaguing my potential and have been for years. They are all a result of an unhealthy self-image. I’m learning how unhealthy my self-image has been, and how detrimental it will be if I don’t deal with it.

I’ve let a poor self image:

• Made me pretend to be someone I’m not
• Made me try to impress people that aren’t even paying attention
• Made me want to quit
• Made me Miss out on things I could have been a part of
• Made me Pursue things I had no interest in pursuing
• Got me in trouble financially
• Isolated me from people, friends, and family.
• Let fear dominate me.
  

I’m currently reading “See You at the Top” by Zig Ziglar. In it, Zig says that a healthy self-image is the foundation of being successful. It made me realize that if I don’t know my worth, no one else will!

Know your worth or no one else will!

One of my major goals this year is to be fully confident in myself, which comes from finding my value in God. I’m already starting to become more confident and I can already see the difference it’s making. So I’m excited… about me!

I’m finding that when I find my value in God:

• I’m confident in who He made me to be
• I recognize that my potential is limitless
• I am able to accomplish more than I’ve ever accomplished
• I can go after things that I was afraid to pursue before
• I have more security in the vision God’s placed in my heart
• I will no longer be in bondage to fear
• I won’t fear what people think anymore
  

They all sound like pretty good reasons to be excited about me!

The question is, are you excited about you?

They are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant! -II Cor. 10:12

Catalyst Takeaway #3 – The Dangers of Comparing

Rick Warren had an incredible talk at Catalyst. At one point he started talking about comparison and said there are two dangers that come with comparing:

1.) We’ll find people better than us and get discouraged

2.) We’ll find people we’re better than and get into pride

He went on to say that at our judgment, Jesus isn’t going to ask, “How come you weren’t more like them(your heroes, the people your comparing yourself to, etc.)?” He’s going to say,”I made you to be you – I don’t need doubles, why weren’t you more like you?”

Jud Wilhite said, “Until you settle the identity issue in your life – you’ll never have or be enough…there is no enough – you need to learn to enjoy the journey. We need to surrender our view of us for God’s view of us. When you know God’s love for you – you don’t need validated from any other source.”

I think we all struggle with identity and comparison issues in our lives, however I believe everyday we can take one step closer to realizing who we are in Him. The more revelation we have that we’re complete in our union with Christ (Col. 2:10), the faster comparison and insecurity will fade away.

Thoughts?

¹⁰ So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.                                                                                                            – Col. 2:10

Zack Blair shared this verse with us Saturday in his message at 19 North and it really stuck out to me. He was telling us that we need to be 100% confident in who we are in Christ before we’ll ever be able to love others the way we’re meant to. Why? Because nobody else can make us happy or make us complete other than God.

The truth is that we’ll always have the opportunity to be insecure about something in our lives. Often times we’ll try to manipulate other to meet our needs and come up empty time and time again. Until we find our security and worth in God, we’ll always be insecure!

I want to take a minute and share some things that have helped me overcome insecurity (I’ve come a long way and still have a long way to go, but I’m getting there!!!) – Here we go:

Realize that the World isn’t Paying Nearly as Much Attention to You as You Think – I joke about it, but don’t you feel like you’re a gladiator in the middle of the coliseum in life? You feel as though millions of people are watching every step and detail of your life and they’re able to see your every imperfection. That’s a huge lie and there is a ton of pride in that statement – truth is that no one is really paying that much attention to your life!

There is a Difference between Joy and Happiness – Proverbs says when God blesses us, He’ll add no sorrow to it. That is what separates Godly prosperity in life from the world’s prosperity in life.  Happiness is a result of external things (materialism, relationships, and other things we expect to make us happy). You can have all the stuff in the world and be absolutely miserable. Joy, however is a fruit of the spirit and a result of a relationship with God. When you know you’re complete with God, you’ll have a joy that you can’t even put into words – you’ll suddenly be able to enjoy everything in your life in a way you never have before because you know the only way to find true joy is to put God first in everyday life.

Realize What You Can and Cannot Change – You need to realize that you’ll never be able to change what you look like, what family you grew up in, etc. However, you do have a choice in how you live and conduct yourself. You have a choice about your attitude in life. Once you recognize the things you cannot change, you can focus on building the most important thing you can change and that is your life. Everyday you’re shaping who you are, so stop trying to change things that you can’t change and start changing the things you can.

Recognize that Beauty is more than Skin Deep - I Peter says we should be known for who we are on the inside. I know looks are important and we need to be attracted to someone we like, but how many beautiful people do you know that opened their mouths and started talking and suddenly they weren’t so beautiful any more? How many less attractive people do you know that once they started talking they became a lot more attractive? In the long term – who you are on the inside will far outweigh who you are on the outside – ask any married couple! Focus on becoming beautiful on the inside!

That is enough for now – I may add some more tomorrow, hope that helps!

What are some things you’ve learned that help you overcome insecurities?