Colby Austin of Longmont High School delivered a compelling word on Friday to our FCA Club at Longmont High School.  Here it is!

 

Growing up I have always associated myself with the things that I was involved in or the things that I thought that I was good at. So me considering myself a relatively smart person and a good student, put my self-worth into my grades and the scores that I would get on tests. And I am not in the top 5% of our class, and I don’t do amazing on every test in every class. I would compare myself and I would always end up feeling less than, worthless, and that no matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough. And with soccer and cross country, again I put my worth into my performance and again I always ended up feeling worthless and terrible about myself. It is really easy to put our self-worth into things that we really shouldn’t be putting that much weight into. Like attention from certain people what other people think of us, what society thinks of us. But we are not who anybody else says we are, we are not who our culture says we are, we are who God says we are. We need to put our value and self-worth in Him and Him alone or else we will always come up empty and feeling worthless.

 

Everything in this world can be taken away in an instant. Job, Girlfriend, Boyfriend, Health, House, Friends, Acceptance, Money. So if our identity is found solely in one of those things or something else of this world, then we become lost and loose purpose when/if we lost it. A relationship with God is the only thing in any of our lives that is promised for forever. No one can ever take His love from us. So if our identity and confidence is found solely in Christ and him alone, no  matter what loss we experience, no matter what rejection, no matter what we do or what happens to us, no matter what hurt, We are still worthy, we are still complete and we can have joy because we are His children.

 

God created each of us in His own divine image. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The God who created this entire universe and all the natural wonders of this world created You. That feels pretty incredible. So in order to put our self-worth in God’s hands, we have to know who we are in Him. God knows the individual hairs on our head and he yearns to have an intimate relationship with each and every one of us. But our God does not barge into our lives. We need to actively ask for His grace and wisdom every day and give up to Him whatever we are struggling with. The more fully we invite God in, the less we will feel uninvited by others. We must tie our identities to our unchanging, unflinching, unyielding, and undeniably good, and unquestionably loving God. And I know this is so hard to do. Every day across the world people seek out so much just to fill that void in their heart, whether it’s money, materials, other people, they will always end up feeling empty and lonely. Because that void is cannot be filled with anything of this earth. And how dangerous it is when our souls are gasping for God but we’re too distracted flirting with the world to notice. He waits every day with every answer we asked a question for, every comfort we crave, every affection we’re desperate for, while we look everywhere else but at Him. How must it break His heart when we walk around so desperate for a love He waits to give us each and every day. We just need to slow down in our ridiculously fast-paced world and be with Him, and talk to Him and give everything to Him. We must live out our lives with a kingdom mindset. This world is not our home. There is something so much bigger for us past our life on this Earth. So why put your self-worth into anything but God? And I struggle with this a lot myself.

 

Often I find myself trying to do everything and control my life instead of giving it up to God. And again through this, I will never feel fulfilled and I feel myself pushing my self away from God. And falling back into sin. Relating to self-worth, I really struggle with Guilt. I sin and know what I did was wrong but instead of asking for forgiveness from God, I find myself running in the opposite direction. I feel as though God is disappointed in me and that through all of my sins I’m not worthy of God’s love. And maybe you guys feel the same sometimes. But we have to remember that Jesus sees our sin more clearly than anyone, yet loves us more than anyone. Nothing we do can separate us from God’s love. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we are free from them, no matter how big they are. He makes all things new. We must not put our self-worth in where we have failed or come up short. We may sin, but we are not our sin. We are only who God says we are. God hates the sin, not the sinner.

God has an amazing plan for our lives, one uniquely designed personally for each and every one of us. We just have to listen for what He calls us to do. So go out and live your purpose, live with a kingdom mindset, and place your self-worth in the Lord and you will feel so incredibly loved, worthy, and fulfilled. And as you go through this journey every day, remember to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And in your life, You will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love. Always be kind.