Feeling Good About Yourself

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels."     2 Corinthians 4:7

When you don't feel good about yourself, you live with a sense of insecurity.  You keep looking to others for approval, and when you don't get it, your sense of worth shrivels.  As a result, you can spend your life living far short of your God-given potential.  You are the only person you can't get away from, and until you learn to accept yourself based on the fact that God loves and accepts you as you are, you will always battle insecurity.  Stop and think about the last time you were around somebody you didn't particularly enjoy.  How did it feel?  Not too good, right?  Good or bad, we project onto others the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves.  So if you want people to think well of you, you must have a good opinion of yourself--one based on God's Word.  Now, the Bible cautions about having an overinflated opinion of yourself--but don't go to the other extreme.  Living in continual self-rejection is an open invitation to Satan, whom the Bible says is like a roaring lion who goes about looking for someone to devour (See 1 Peter 5:8).  You say, "But didn't Paul write, 'Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature'?" (Romans 7:18 NLT).  Yes, but that means the good qualities you do possess are evidence that God is at work in your life.  The Bible says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, but the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).  Today, instead of focusing on your flaws and feeling bad, recognize the "treasure" of God's presence, power, and potential that live within you.

This message taken from: Daily Devotional - The Word For You Today