As a former Miss South Africa and Miss Universe, I’m often seen or defined as being a “beauty queen.” While I love things like style and fashion, I never want my outward appearance to define me.
Our culture has a very high standard of beauty that honestly no one can uphold. When I was first entering into the Miss Universe pageant there was a lot of talk that I was too short to win the crown. It would be easy to get into my head or discourage me from living out God’s plan for my life. Our culture implies if you aren’t beautiful, you aren’t valuable. We have images on social media that are constantly telling us we don’t reach society’s expectations. Most of those images aren’t even real, and yet that’s the standard we often try and hold ourselves to. But I believe God wants us to look at ourselves in a different way than this world does and not look at ourselves through the false lenses of social media. I believe God wants us to know, deep down, a few Truths.
You are VALUABLE. The way you usually determine something’s worth is by how much time, effort or energy someone puts into making it, and also how much someone is willing to pay for it. I believe God created each and every one of us in His image, with great love, and great sacrifice to Himself. He sent His only Son to die just for you and me, to give us eternal life, and that means He was willing to pay it ALL for you and me. Not only was he willing, but he DID pay it all! And guess what? Even if you were the only person on this planet, He STILL would have chosen to lay down his life for you. That’s how valuable you are. No Instagram following, set of clothes or big promotion can change the fact that God created you with love and a significant purpose.
You have PURPOSE. Not only did God knit you together perfectly with great care and love, Hecreated you with a great purpose. It’s easy to get caught up in comparing ourselves to others instead of living out the truth that God created us for a part in His great plan. Before you were even born, He created a perfect and specific plan for your life. I believe it’s time to stop looking to the next thing to bring us purpose, and to rather ask God how we can live out HIS perfect purpose today.
You have GOD-Confidence. Yes, you!
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14
This verse always reminds me of how my grandmother used to knit me little jerseys (you call them sweaters here in America). She spent so much time making sure every single stitch was perfect. She was knitting it together with love so that it was the perfect gift for me. I believe this is kind of how God creates each and every one of us, with great care and great love.
He created us in love, by love and for love, and if that doesn’t make you feel worthy, I don’t think any amount of makeup, clothes, words of affirmation or followers will ever make you feel worthy. If we define ourselves based on worldly opinions or our own self-image, we will always fall short. God is the only one who gets to tell you who you are, and He says you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
It all starts in understanding your identity in your loving Creator. He created you with confidence therefore we don’t need to rely on ourselves but only God. We can replace the word “self” with “God” and have God-Confidence every day.
