Several years ago a 17-year-old girl drove a great distance to talk with me. I have never met a girl who had so much going for her. She was cover-girl pretty with a wonderful figure. She was immaculately dressed. She had completed 12 years of school in 11 years, graduating with a very high grade point average. As a talented musician, she had received a music scholarship to a Christian university. And she drove a brand-new sports car her parents gave her for graduation. I was amazed that one person could have so much.
She talked with me for half an hour and I realized that what I saw on the outside wasn't matching what I was beginning to see on the inside. "Mary," I said finally, "have you ever cried yourself to sleep at night because you felt inadequate and wished you were somebody else?"
She began to cry. "How did you know?"
"Truthfully, Mary," I answered, "I've learned that people who appear to have it all together are often far from being together inside."
Often what we show on the outside is a false front designed to disguise who we really are and cover up the secret hurts we feel about our identity. Somehow we believe that if we appear attractive or perform well or enjoy a certain amount of status, then we will have it all together inside as well. But that's not necessarily true. External appearance, accomplishment and recognition don't necessarily reflect--or produce--internal peace and maturity. All the stuff and status you can acquire don't add up to personal wholeness. Millions of people climb those ladders to success, only to discover when they reach the top that they are leaning against the wrong wall!
Wholeness and meaning in life are not the products of what you have or don't have, what you've done or haven't done. You are already a whole person and possess a life of infinite meaning and purpose because of who you are--a child of God. The only identity equation that works in God's kingdom is you plus Christ equals wholeness and meaning.
Father God, I wouldn't trade the wholeness and meaning You have brought to my life for anything the world can produce.
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