Look at this ocean. You will not find a more beautiful beach anywhere, God's creation, God's handiwork. Look at this sand. Look at the beautiful trees. Look at the turquoise water, it's awesome. You're a masterpiece. "Yeah Ed, but you don't know what my father told me." or "You don't know what that coach told me." or "You don't know what people say about my look or my laugh." Hey, you are a masterpiece based on the Bible.
The Bible says in Isaiah 49:5 (TEV), "The Lord gives me honor, he is my source of strength." Psalms 8:5 (NLT), "For you made us only a little lower than God and you crowned us with glory and honor." Psalms 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." I mean, think about that. Before you were a twinkle in your father's eye, you mattered to God. He had a plan for you. A design for you. You think Picasso and Renoir are great painters? They pale in comparison to the artistic beauty that God has given you and he has given me. We are creative. We are innovative. We are one of a kind. Yet most of us don't know it. And I'll tell you why we don't know it. The evil one does not want us to now it. Captain Deception, who drives this boat, messes too many people up.
Here's what I've tried to do with my life. And I struggle with self-esteem like everybody else. But once I begin to see myself the way God sees me, nothing more and nothing less, my life begins to change as far as my view, as far as my location, as far as who I am and where I am on God's map. I try every time I talk to people, every time I talk to my wife and my children and friends, and believe me I fail at this, but I try--I try to build up people's self esteem. I try to show them who they are in Christ. I try to give them confidence. I try to give them support. I can't do it, but I allow God, through me, to give it to them, to show them who they are before the Lord.
Another thing I do is I try to share Christ with people that I see. If God gives me a window of opportunity, I try to just throw in something about Christ. Because you can read all the self-help books you want to, written by all the psychologist and the psychotherapists and the glassy eyed gurus, said Ed Young [http://sex-periment.org]. You can try to think positively and all this stuff. But let me tell you something, that does not matter a thing. It all begins with Jesus Christ and seeing God's view of you. So, we are a masterpiece.
The Bible says in Isaiah 49:5 (TEV), "The Lord gives me honor, he is my source of strength." Psalms 8:5 (NLT), "For you made us only a little lower than God and you crowned us with glory and honor." Psalms 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." I mean, think about that. Before you were a twinkle in your father's eye, you mattered to God. He had a plan for you. A design for you. You think Picasso and Renoir are great painters? They pale in comparison to the artistic beauty that God has given you and he has given me. We are creative. We are innovative. We are one of a kind. Yet most of us don't know it. And I'll tell you why we don't know it. The evil one does not want us to now it. Captain Deception, who drives this boat, messes too many people up.
Here's what I've tried to do with my life. And I struggle with self-esteem like everybody else. But once I begin to see myself the way God sees me, nothing more and nothing less, my life begins to change as far as my view, as far as my location, as far as who I am and where I am on God's map. I try every time I talk to people, every time I talk to my wife and my children and friends, and believe me I fail at this, but I try--I try to build up people's self esteem. I try to show them who they are in Christ. I try to give them confidence. I try to give them support. I can't do it, but I allow God, through me, to give it to them, to show them who they are before the Lord.
Another thing I do is I try to share Christ with people that I see. If God gives me a window of opportunity, I try to just throw in something about Christ. Because you can read all the self-help books you want to, written by all the psychologist and the psychotherapists and the glassy eyed gurus, said Ed Young [http://sex-periment.org]. You can try to think positively and all this stuff. But let me tell you something, that does not matter a thing. It all begins with Jesus Christ and seeing God's view of you. So, we are a masterpiece.