[Part 1] [Part2]

“I am who God says that I am.”  Popeye use to say, “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I am.” Good, great.  Be happy with who you are, but at the end of the day I want some confirmation about who I really am.  I know myself well enough to know that I can trick my own mind into to believing things about me that aren’t true.  I also have some help in this area, and so do the teens that I work with.

Our culture is constantly feeding lies into our lives.  I was teaching about the impact of culture the other week, and one student said, “I’m really careful about what I watch, we keep it on the Disney channel.”  She’s right, at least she isn’t watching Sex and City, like a majority of her peers, but is Disney really any better?  My 4 year old daughter, Gabie, knows that Hannah Montana needs to put more clothes on.  Because of that, she turns off the TV if Hannah comes on, not me.

Now, part of your job as a Christian is to confront the lies that you hear, but it is also important that you have a firm grasp on who you really are, and the only one who can truly know that is God.  A when it comes to knowing how God sees you, this is all you need to know: You are His.  You are His child.  You were bought with the an extraordinary price, making you extraordinarily valuable to Him.  Holding on to this truth can help you overcoming the lies, criticisms, attacks, and personal difficulties that you face.

Tags: Bible Study, Christianity, Culture, Devotional Thoughts