Marc Estes

The concept of being individually created and chosen by God is a basic biblical concept. We learned it as children in Sunday school—“red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight”—and we solidly believed it because, at that point, we hadn’t learned the perceived “value” of being the same as everyone else. As children not yet influenced by commercialism or the status quo, we accepted our uniqueness.

And then we grew up.

As adults, it’s easy to take the devil’s bait, comparing ourselves to what we see in popular culture, trying to become something else and therefore attaching value to an identity that was never meant to be ours in the first place. And when we learn that we can’t adequately imitate that identity, our self-worth plunges and the things that stood in the way of achieving that identity become perceived faults to overcome. But God never intended for us to feel that way.

Embracing the fact that God, the Creator of the universe, had you mapped out on the drawing board before time began can be a hard pill to swallow in light of how we often view ourselves. Lucky you … despite your faults (the perceived ones and the real ones), the idea that God chose you and created you for His purpose may be beyond your human comprehension, but it’s entirely true!

How do you really feel about yourself? How do you think God feels about you? At your core, do you really believe that God cares for you? Do you really embrace the fact that you are important to Him and His purpose?

Fortunately, I have developed a completely different view of myself through the eyes of my heavenly Father. God’s Word, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, has reshaped my self-worth and my potential for greatness to reflect how God sees me—not the way I think others see me or the way I saw myself previously. I have learned the hard way that how I see myself and how I feel about myself have a vast impact on how far I’ll go in life. Therefore, I choose to believe that I am one of God’s chosen and that He created me specifically this way. He cares for me and thinks I am fantastically unique.