Is Rejecting Myself The Same As Rejecting God?

Just as artists express their innermost values and thoughts through art, God expresses Himself through His creation, which includes you!

Scripture states that believers are God’s workmanship.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained and prepared that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10.)

Each unchangeable part of your life is like a precise word selected by a poet or a specific color prepared by an artist. God designed the unique details of your life to demonstrate a particular aspect of His grace and glory.

Suppose that an artist’s canvas had a will of its own and could say, “I dislike these colors. I will reject them.” In rejecting the colors, the canvas rejects the message and purpose of the artist.

In the same way, if you reject the unchangeable features that God designed for your life, you reject His work and the message and purpose He wants to accomplish in and through you. Angry outbursts of self-rejection such as “I hate I look” or “I hate life” are bitter reactions toward God and His design.

Self-acceptance receives God’s design and seeks to understand the purpose for each feature God selected. Some unchangeables, such as the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh, may be unpleasant.

And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a thorn of my flesh, an messenger of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power and strength is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I strong and powerful. (II Corinthians 12:7–10.)

However, self-acceptance allows you to be at peace with God, to accept your unchangeables, and to be excited about what God can accomplish in and through them.