What is one thing you would love to change about yourself, but you’re stuck with it?
“I wish I were taller.”
“I hate my laugh. I want a different laugh!”
“I can’t stand the way I sneeze! I practically wake the dead.”
“I wish I had different parents.”
“I wish I had been born in a different time.”
As believers in Jesus, we understand that God made us. We aren’t here simply because of natural forces—we were handcrafted by a God who works in beauty, strength, and peace.
But we don’t always consider how the truth of our creation operates in everyday life. Many of us look at how we were made and find fault with it.
“This is not good enough. This is not what I want. It was wrong of God to make me like this. What He gave me is BAD! If I were different, or if a few of my details were different, I would be better off.”
When we feel like God made a mistake with us, we become unable to trust Him in that area. We start leaning on human wisdom instead of His wisdom regarding the “problem,” and—worse—we become unable to see what He sees when He looks at us.
The Fruit of Self-Rejection
Loving who you are is an important part of heart healing. There is nothing wrong with wishing for better circumstances or wanting to change your life in some way. Diet, exercise, going to school, increasing your skillset—all these things can be positive points of transformation. Things we do with God.
But we open ourselves up to deception and additional pain when we look at how God made us and disagree with what He did.
“This is not good enough, God. You made a mistake with me. I shouldn’t have been born into this family. I shouldn’t have this personality. I shouldn’t look this way. I should have been different.”
This “disagreement” with God can affect us in some surprising ways:
Obviously, disliking who we are is not the only reason we might struggle with different things on this list—there can be other sources. But whenever we look at how God made us and say, “You made a mistake when You did this,” it becomes hard for us to thrive the way He intended.
A Prayer for Healing
If you recognize that you struggle to love how God made you, here is a prayer of repentance and a simple request for His beautiful abundant life:
The fruit of being healed in this area is life. You will be able to move toward life. You will be able to enjoy your life more and relax more in your relationship with the Lord. You will be able to have better relationships with the people around you and fulfill God’s purpose for you—this beautiful thing He made just for you that is a perfect fit for your heart.
To read more about this topic, check out the following resources from Elijah House: