By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“You weren’t an accident. You were deliberately planned.” – Max Lucado

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

I think that we all look at ourselves in the mirror at one time or another and don’t like what we see.

I’m not just talking about, “Yeah, I could stand to lose a few pounds,” or “Hmm. Maybe this mustache doesn’t look as good as I thought.”

I’m talking about those times when we don’t like who we are. We find ourselves insecure and unhappy. We constantly compare ourselves to others, seeing ourselves as below them. On social media, everyone’s lives look so grand and joyful, yet here we are in the dumps.

This is the reality:

In those moments when we feel like we are a mistake; that we simply can’t measure up to the world’s standards; it’s in those moments we need to remember that we were fearfully and wonderfully made.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,” (Psalm 139:13-14).

You were not created by accident. You were created by an all-knowing, ever-loving God. He made you with intentionality. You were made for a purpose. He has a plan for you. He made you so that he could use you.

He knows you. Even the “very hairs of your head are all numbered,” (Luke 12:7).

He loves you. He cares for you.

I went through a stage in my life where I felt that I couldn’t measure up to anyone around me. I felt unqualified and unprepared for everything. I felt lonely and miserable. I was constantly comparing myself to others.

It was exhausting.

All of this ended one day when I came to the realization that I served a God who loved me.

Not the person I thought I was. Not the person I thought I needed to be. Not the lowlife, inept, foolish person I felt I was when I compared myself to others.

God loved me.

God loves you more than anyone has, will, or ever could love you.

God cares for you more than anyone has, will, or ever could care for you.

God knows you more than anyone has, will, or ever could know you.

God made you, fearfully and wonderfully.

Parents: Share with your children this excerpt from Psalm 139. Explain to them that they were made for a purpose and that they are loved by God.