Main Texts: Jeremiah 1:5–12; Ephesians 1:4–6; Romans 12:1–2
Introduction
God has a picture of who He created us to be. Before we were born, before people formed opinions about us, and before we experienced failure, rejection, or disappointment, God already knew us and had a purpose for our lives.
In Jeremiah 1:5, God declares that He knew Jeremiah before forming him in the womb, set him apart before birth, and appointed him for a purpose. This reveals that our lives are not accidents. We are known by God, chosen in Christ, and created according to His divine purpose.
The way we see ourselves influences how we live, pray, speak, respond to pressure, and approach the possibilities before us. Therefore, we must learn to see ourselves through God’s eyes rather than through the lens of our past experiences, circumstances, or people’s opinions.
As we embrace this new season, God is calling us to realign our thinking, our words, and our lives with what He has already said concerning us.
1. Your Identity in God Determines How You Live
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:5–8
God told Jeremiah that He knew him before his formation in the womb and had appointed him for a specific purpose. Yet Jeremiah initially focused on his limitations, saying that he was too young and could not speak.
God redirected Jeremiah’s attention from his perceived inadequacies to God’s presence, instruction, and ability to equip him.
Similarly, we can become so focused on our weaknesses, past experiences, and present circumstances that we lose sight of who God says we are. However, our limitations do not cancel God’s purpose for our lives.
How we see ourselves affects our confidence, our confession, our response to challenges, and what we believe is possible. We cannot continually see ourselves as weak, defeated, or incapable and expect to walk confidently in the purpose God has given us.
Key Truth: We must learn to see ourselves through the lens of God’s Word, not through the limitations of our circumstances.
2. God’s Word, Not People’s Opinions, Defines You
Scriptures: Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:4–6
Before we ever formed an opinion about ourselves, God had a plan for us. Before people placed labels on us, God had already spoken concerning our identity and purpose.
People may judge us by our past, define us by our mistakes, or form conclusions based on what they see. However, their opinions do not determine our destiny.
The account of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9 illustrates this truth. Although he was the son of Jonathan and grandson of King Saul, his circumstances had left him living in Lo-debar. Yet David remembered his covenant with Jonathan and restored Mephibosheth to a place at the king’s table.
His circumstances did not erase his identity or his place in the king’s household.
In the same way, we must not allow rejection, disappointment, failure, or negative labels to become our identity. What people have said about us is not the final word. God has the final word concerning who we are in Christ.
Key Truth: You are not a mistake in God’s agenda. Your past does not cancel God’s purpose for your life.
3. Discover What God Has Already Said About You
Scriptures: Ephesians 1:4–6; Ephesians 1:3
The challenge is not for God to discover us. The challenge is for us to discover and understand what He has already said concerning us.
Ephesians 1 reminds us that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ. His plan was established before our experiences, disappointments, or personal struggles.
When we do not understand our identity in God, we can become unsettled by circumstances, easily influenced by other people’s opinions, and distracted by whatever appears to be happening around us.
However, God’s Word gives us a settled picture of who we are. We are chosen in Christ, loved by God, and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
We must continually return to Scripture to renew our understanding of ourselves. Rather than allowing life’s experiences to paint a different picture, we must allow God’s Word to shape our identity, expectations, and decisions.
Key Truth: We must discover, believe, and live according to what God has already revealed about us in His Word.
4. Alignment: Bringing Your Life into Agreement with God’s Word
Scriptures: Romans 12:1–2; Amos 3:3
One of the central lessons of this message is the importance of alignment.
Consider an aircraft preparing to land. Regardless of its size, the pilot must bring it into alignment with the runway’s centre line. If the aircraft moves away from that line, the landing becomes dangerous.
In the same way, life’s circumstances may push us in different directions. Fear, pressure, disappointment, and the opinions of others may influence our thinking and behaviour. We may even appear to be moving in the right direction while being out of alignment with God’s purpose.
God calls us to bring our lives back into alignment with His Word.
The Word of God is our centre line.
Romans 12:1–2 teaches us not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This transformation involves bringing our thinking into agreement with God’s truth, our words into agreement with His promises, and our lifestyle into alignment with His will.
Alignment is not simply about how we feel about ourselves. It is about agreeing with what God says about us and allowing that truth to shape how we live.
When our thoughts, words, decisions, and actions agree with God’s Word, we position ourselves to discern and walk in His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Key Truth: We cannot consistently walk in God’s purpose while holding on to a picture of ourselves that contradicts His Word.
5. Choose the Voice That Defines You
Scriptures: Amos 3:3; Romans 12:2
Many voices compete for our attention. There is the voice of our past, the voice of fear, the voice of failure, the voice of comparison, the voice of culture, and the voice of people’s opinions.
There is also the voice of God, revealed through His Word.
We must decide which voice we will agree with.
Agreement produces alignment. When we agree with fear, our decisions begin to reflect fear. When we agree with rejection, we may behave as though we are unwanted. When we agree with failure, we begin to expect defeat.
However, when we agree with God’s Word, our lives begin to align with His truth.
God says we are His children. He says we are chosen in Christ. He says we are new creations and that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
We must stop allowing the wrong voices to define us and continually return to the truth of God’s Word.
Key Truth: The voice you agree with will influence the direction of your life. Choose to agree with God.
6. Embrace Who You Are in Christ
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:3
Our identity is rooted in what God has accomplished for us through Jesus Christ.
Second Corinthians 5:17 declares that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new creation. The old life has passed away, and a new life has begun.
This means that our past mistakes, failures, and disappointments do not have to define our future. In Christ, we have a new identity and a new basis for living.
God sees us through the finished work of Christ. Therefore, we must learn to view ourselves in the light of what Jesus has accomplished rather than continually identifying with our old experiences.
Instead of saying, “I am rejected,” we must remember that we are chosen in Christ. Instead of saying, “Nothing ever works for me,” we must remember that God has blessed us in Christ. Instead of saying, “This is just the way I have always been,” we must embrace the transforming power of God’s Word.
This is not about denying life’s challenges. It is about refusing to let those challenges have the final word over our identity.
Key Truth: In Christ, we are new creations. Our identity is established by God’s grace and the finished work of Jesus.
Practical Application
As we embrace the theme This Is Me: Seeing Yourself Through God’s Eyes, we must take deliberate steps to live in alignment with God’s truth.
- Examine your identity: Ask yourself whether your understanding of who you are comes from God’s Word or from your experiences and other people’s opinions.
- Renew your mind: Spend time in Scripture and allow God’s truth to reshape your thinking.
- Watch your words: Let your confession agree with what God says about you rather than with fear, defeat, or insecurity.
- Reject negative labels: Do not allow past failures, rejection, or disappointment to define your future.
- Choose your influences wisely: Identify the voices that are shaping your decisions and choose to give God’s Word the final authority.
- Walk in alignment: Bring your thoughts, words, attitudes, and lifestyle into agreement with God’s purpose for your life.
Personal Reflection
- What have I believed about myself that does not agree with God’s Word?
- Which voices have been influencing my identity and decisions?
- What does God say about me in Christ?
- What changes do I need to make to bring my thinking, words, and lifestyle into alignment with His Word?
Declaration
This is me! I am who God says I am. I am chosen in Christ, loved by God, redeemed, forgiven, and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. My past does not define me, and the opinions of others do not determine my destiny. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. My thoughts, words, and actions are coming into alignment with God’s Word and purpose for my life. I will see myself through God’s eyes and walk confidently in His plan for me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Conclusion
God has already given us a picture of who we are in Christ. Our responsibility is to discover that picture in His Word, believe it, and bring our lives into alignment with it.
The world may try to define us by our past, circumstances, or failures, but God’s Word gives us a different perspective. We are chosen, loved, redeemed, and made new in Christ.
As we enter this new season, let us stop agreeing with the wrong voices and begin to agree wholeheartedly with God. Let His Word become the centre line that guides our thoughts, shapes our words, and directs our lives.
This is me: I will see myself through God’s eyes, agree with His Word, and live in alignment with His purpose.
