Happy Monday. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26

I have a friend in my church who is a victim of identity theft. It has been a difficult experience trying to get her life back in order.

Are you sighing in relief because this hasn’t happened to you?

But has it?

So often we are bombarded by images, messages that tell us what we should look like, how we should dress, what we should weigh. We forget that we are each one an original, made by God, for His pleasure, His fellowship, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Our enemy, the father of lies, whose purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy, reinforces the images with his suggestions—“you’re not as good as…,” “you are one big failure,” “you have no talent.”

And too often we buy into his deceit and lose our true identity as we try to fit a mold imposed on us.

However, the One who is the truth, wants us to hear, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, you are my workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You are engraved on the palm of my hand.”

The choice is ours. Who will we believe?

The late Ethel Waters was quoted often as saying, “God don’t make no junk.”

Because it is a fact that we will love our neighbors as ourselves, it is imperative that we hold fast to our God-given identity. How?

Renew our mind, daily (Romans 12:2). Think God’s thoughts about us, which are precious. Psalms 139:17.

Realize no one else in the world can be you—you are you-nique!

“You aren’t an accident. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted and lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.” –Max Lucado