Worry and Anxiety About Ourselves

We can worry about a lot of things, but sometimes our greatest worries can be about ourselves. For instance, many people have the mistaken idea that God expects us to be perfect. If this was true, then He would not have needed to send Jesus to forgive our sins and to give us the Holy Spirit to help us in our weaknesses. When we put unreasonable expectations of perfection on ourselves, we fall short of reaching our goals and end up anxious and worried.

It is wise to know how God sees you and feels about you, according to His Word. You are loved unconditionally by God, made right with Him through your faith in Jesus, justified, sanctified, powerful, talented, creative, unique, and special—and you have many other wonderful qualities! If you know this, the enemy will not succeed in deceiving you.

For years, I tried so hard to be perfect—to do and say everything right so God would approve of me. God helped me to finally understand that we can’t make ourselves perfect. Instead, as we develop our relationship with Him and spend time in His Word, He helps us to grow and change. And during that process, no matter how much we fail, God still sees us as perfect because of the work He has done in us through Christ.

When you sin—as we all do—the way back to peace with God is to admit it, ask for God’s forgiveness, receive His forgiveness, and then realize that your sin is in the past (see 1 John 1:9). Then you can do as the apostle Paul did: Let go of what lies behind and press forward (see Philippians 3:13).

You are God’s masterpiece, and He loves you more than you realize. Loving yourself is simply receiving the love of God. It isn’t being in love with yourself or being self-centered—it is receiving by faith what God offers by His grace.

God’s love is unconditional, and it has no conditions or strings attached. Therefore, we all meet the qualifications of receiving it. All you have to do is receive it, be thankful, and find peace being the unique and wonderful person He created you to be.

Adapted from the book The Answer to Anxiety by Joyce Meyer. Copyright 2023 by Joyce Meyer. Published by Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved.