When I was about ten years old, my piano teacher told me she thought I would never amount to anything. Six years later, my Literature teacher wrote in my yearbook, “May the bluebird of happiness…pass you by.” Granted, I wasn’t the most diligent student in piano or Literature, but the tenor of the words still stung. To this day, I keep a tiny glass bluebird on my bookshelf as a poignant reminder that the cutting admonition from my teachers did not predict my future, nor do they define my worth.
The voices of others hold powerful sway over our sense of significance. When those voices degrade, renounce, or reject, we can become blind to the truth that there is only one Voice that matters.
When you are tempted to allow the critical chatter of others to pin you under the weight of condemnation, look to scripture to be reminded that you are secure in your relationship with Christ. Then consider with sober joy what that means!
You Are a Child of God
The moment you submitted to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, you became sealed and adopted as a child of the Creator of the universe. Before, you were merely an image-bearing creation of God, infinitely valuable, but a spiritual orphan. Now, you are adopted into his family.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. Beloved, we are God's children now…” 1 John 3:1,2).
“For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in” (Psalm 27:10).
“…but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15).
Be cheered, Christian, because you are taken in by a perfect Father. Need you ever feel worthless?
You Are an Heir
As a sealed and accepted child of God, you are also an heir. “And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:17).
In heaven, you have a trust waiting for you. You are heir “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).
Drink in the words of Jesus: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
Christian, that invitation is for you. Need you ever feel insignificant?
You Are Royalty
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). This is not figurative language. You are literally royalty in a literal Kingdom— the only real Kingdom. And you are possessed by the all-powerful, all-benevolent, light-filled King.
On earth, Christ was a servant King (John 13: 12-14). So on earth, his royal priests serve in his name. In heaven, Christ is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16). And we will reign with him.
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:11–13).
“You have crowned (man) with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet” (Hebrews 2:7-8).
“Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3).
Christian, what might that look like, to judge angels? One day, you will find out. Need you ever feel powerless?
You Are a Refugee and a Sojourner
The moment you acceded to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, you changed citizenship. Earth became a foreign land in which you must dwell until you are called to your real, marvelous, perfect, glorious, light-filled home. Your “citizenship is in heaven, and from it (you) await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
And while you wait, you serve and proclaim the Gospel of your King.
Serve in that homeless shelter. Adopt that child. Take that neighbor to church. Smile at the young man who is checking your groceries. Write that letter to the shut in. Take joy in Christ so that you may be a joy to those around you. Give others a glimpse of the King and Country to which you belong, so they may “ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Then tell them!
Christian, there is a home being specially prepared for you (John 14:3). Need you ever feel displaced?
The Only Voice That Matters
I suppose my piano teacher was right. I never did amount to anything. Instead, I became nothing in order to make Christ everything.
Only Christ, the Word of Life (John 1), is able to drown out the negative voices that pervade and persuade. He assures us, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? Then neither will I” (John 8:10-11). By God’s grace, sealed and secured in the finality of the cross, we are free to go in the acceptance and assurance of Jesus Christ.