As you struggle to overcome value judgments that are not sinful, I want to continue to give you some things to work through in your thinking: 1. Remember that godly character is more valuable to God and therefore more to be desired than outward appearance or human abilities – We must replace our temporal value system with an eternal value system (1 Tim. 4:7-8) 2. Learn to identify and correct legalistic, perfectionistic, and ascetic thought patterns. These are thought patterns that elevate man-made laws to the same level of God-given commands (legalism), Take an all or nothing mentality whose subjective standard is higher and more exacting that that of the Bible (Perfectionistic), or The belief that God is somehow necessarily more pleased if I punish myself for my inadequacies. 3. Stop comparing yourself to others – This is one of the greatest causes of unbiblical value judgments – God made each of unique in our abilities, and we cannot compare ourselves to others because each of us are different.4. Learn how to glory in your infirmities, knowing that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. – God delights in taking our natural weaknesses and using them to demonstrate His great … READ MORE

How you perceive yourself is often slanted by our sinful heart. What we value as important is often not as important as we think. It is important for the moment, but it is not important for eternity. We need to put on eternal glasses instead of the temporal glasses that we wear. How do we do that. Allow me to suggest some ways to do that. . . . 1. Make it your aim to thoroughly understand the do trines of justification and positional sanctification – often we feel that we are not “good enough” to be accepted by those around us and God because we view ourselves as inadequate in some area that is not sinful. Recognizing our position before God as righteous (declared by the work of Christ), and positionally as a saint (declared by our position) gives us perspective. 2. “Reprogram” our conscience by examining each area of doubt in light of the whole counsel of God. – Sometimes we develop an unbiblical view of ourselves because we have adapted the World’s values to our perception. The World did not create us God did, we need to view ourselves accordingly. 3. Learn how to distinguish sin issues … READ MORE

Who am I, is a question that we constantly struggle with. How do we learn to see ourselves as God does, and therefore, learn to value our lives because of God’s purpose for us. The principle of sin that is present in this world, often tempts us to view ourselves as the world views us, but the reality is that we need to evaluate ourselves based on God’s standards not our own. We have already seen that because of the worlds definition of important we often view ourselves inaccurately. We now are reminded that because of those same standards, we often struggle with the things that may be true about ourselves that are not sinful. For example, my height was a constant thorn in my side as a high school student. I wanted to be over 6 foot tall (a mark I will add that I have never reached!), but it never happened. I let this shortfall define my value and my view of myself. I could not change that truth, but as a result I became a “lover of self … rather than a lover of God.” (2 Timothy 3:1-7) These accurate self-perceptions, really did not define my value … READ MORE