Overcoming: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

The Brokenness of Self-Hatred Do you remember times when you felt foolish? Do you like what you see in the mirror? Do you think of yourself as a winner? Do you like yourself? Great numbers of people don't, and you may be one of them. Around 32,000 people committed suicide in America last year, and many millions more wanted to because they hated their lives so much. How is it possible to be happy when you feel so bad? Step one is to stop looking inward, obsessed with your own feelings, and check in with God's opinion first. Here's where having a Savior in Jesus changes everything. Thanks to his perfect life, perfect death, and glorious resurrection, God has a new view of you. He thinks you're beautiful! He thinks you’re worth claiming as his child and worth inviting to heaven. In Isaiah 61:1-3 the Savior says, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me . . . to comfort all who mourn . . . to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning." You know, if God thinks you're beautiful, then you must be. If God likes you, then you can like yourself.