You Are More Than The World Says You Are

The definition of a human being according to Webster Online Dictionary is a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech and upright stance.

I also read some quotes about what other said about what human beings were.
An intelligence served by organs
A reasoning animal
A tool making and tool using animal
An ingenious assembly of portable plumbing.

If you looked up the worth of the chemicals in the normal human’s body, it would be worth about $160.

But you and I are more than all of these definitions, quotes, and chemical values.

Tenth Avenue North has a song called You Are More. The chorus says:
You are more than the choices that you’ve made.
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes.
You are more than the problems that you create.
You have been remade.

In the song’s third verse it says:
‘Cause this is not about what you done,
But what has been done for you.
This is not about where you’ve been,
But where your brokenness brings you to.
This is not about what you feel,
But what He felt to forgive you,
And what He felt to make you loved.

We have a very basic choice about how to define ourselves as human beings. Are we going to believe what the world says about us or what God says about us?

The world says we are accidents.
God says we are His creation.

Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created him, male and female He created them.

Psalm 139:13-16
Oh, yes, You shaped me first inside, then out, You formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank You, High God - You’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

The world says we are nothing unless we achieve and earn it.
God says we are His treasure and His beloved.

Exodus 19:5
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine.

Romans 8:37-39
But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth, or any other thing that is created.

The world says we are controlled by our emotions and desires.
God says we can be controlled by Him if we choose to be.

Romans 6:16
Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Romans 12:1
Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to Him as living sacrifices, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God.

The world says we as humans have no hope.
God says we have hope in Him. (and Him alone)

Psalm 33:18-22
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord even as we put our hope in You.

Romans 15:13
May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The world says life ends in death which leads to nothing.
God says life ends in death which leads to victory.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Where, death is your victory? Where, death is your power to hurt? Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

1 John 5:4
For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

We can let the world define us. AND IT WILL!

It will define us by:
Race
Nationality
Economic Status
Social Status
Political Preference
Many Other Human Measurements

OR

We can let God define us.

He defines us as His children.

John 1:12
But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.

He defines us as His people, His royal priests, His holy nation, His possession, His people who glorify Him, His people who He has called out of darkness into His light.

1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

He defines us as His new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether): the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

We can allow the world to tell us who we are and live defeated.
We can allow God to tell us who we are and live victorious.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about letting God define us. He is our Creator and so He knows us and is all-powerful. He is our Savior so He loves us and provides what we need. He is our Friend so He is always with us. He is our Master so He will guide us. He is our Teacher so He will instruct us.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Now that is pure love. Jesus the sinless one became your sin so you could become His righteousness.

So my choice is to let the culture tell me who I am or to let the sinless, all-power, all-knowing, ever present, all-loving Creator of the universe tell me who I am.

That to me is an absolute no-brainer. - GOD!

The world tells me and you that we are of no value. God says you and I are of infinite worth.

You Are More!

Being More Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe