definitions

I keep seeing this graphic on Facebook that says something like "don't let others define you, define yourself".  It's really made me think a lot of how we think of ourselves....what definitions we use.

There are many ways that we can define ourselves.  Some are positive and some are negative.  Of course the positive ways are the ones we need to keep and the negative ones are the ones we need to let go of.  God doesn't ever want us to define ourselves by something negative.  That never builds us up, nor is it a good witness to any one else.

We can define ourselves by the roles that we 'play' in life.....wife, mom, sister, friend, Grandma, daughter, Christian, friend .

We can use words to describe things we 'do'...crafter, reader, blogger, facebooker, runner

We can use words that describe our outer being....beautiful, ugly, fat, thin, short, tall, stylish, dorky

We can use words to describe our inner being...loving, kind, compassionate, outgoing, withdrawn, anxious, depressed, happy

I'm sure that you can think of many more.  I believe that some of these 'labels' are ok, while others simply serve to bring us down, to lower our confidence, etc.

Often I think we use a variety of things, of words, to describe ourselves....we mix and match, we use some from each of these categories and probably many more.

What should be our guidelines for describing ourselves?  What are the words that you use to describe YOU?  If you meet someone new, say online.....how would you describe yourself??  And would that description really be accurate or would words from someone close to us be more accurate?  Are we harder on ourselves, see ourselves as less than we really are?  What do you think?

I think that many of these things are human labels, human descriptions.....while really we need to describe ourselves in a manner that would be pleasing to God.  And God loves us, He only has good things to say.....He wants us to have confidence...in Him and that means letting go of the 'bad' and embracing the good.

SO....my next question....how does God see us?