Last week, my newsfeed was full of constant shares to a giant, warm, fuzzy video.

It was Christian-themed, but I’m not sure it was all that Christ-centered.  I don’t claim to know it all, though, so perhaps I’m wrong.  Either way, when thousands of likes and all caps demands of “LADIES, THIS IS WHAT GOD THINKS ABOUT YOU!” accompany a post, it’s worth checking out, right? 

So, I did.  Because I’m a lady who loves God.  And I can really get behind a video that brings glory to God.

Except this video… didn’t.  I watched as a guy walked out on stage, stared into the camera with his super serious eyes (which detracted just a little from the tight shirt he was wearing to show off his rather glorious muscles) and began to tell me that I am, frankly, super awesome.  And beautiful, kind, smart… just everything I could ever want to be, right?

Here’s the thing, y’all.  I’m kind about ten percent of the time but spend the other ninety percent praying against my natural inclination to be a mean-spirited, old hag.  I’m smart when it comes to Disney trivia and one-liners from the Simpsons, but I have absolutely no common sense and can’t do a lick of calculus.  And despite what my husband says, I’m not beautiful.  My hair is graying at 34, my laugh lines are “all the time” lines, and I look more like a Muppet than a supermodel.  (Muppets are awesome, though, so it’s all good.)

So, if the Lord was going to say something to me, it would certainly not be those things.  Because God?  Is more concerned about my holiness than my self-esteem.  God is God because He just IS.  And if He’s going to say someone is awesome, He’s not dumb.  He’ll say that He alone is awesome.  And because He’s awesome, He extends grace to the decidedly un-awesome… people like me, who need Him, who receive His mercy, and who become people made for His glory, made in His image, when He orchestrates His changing grace in our lives.

These are things that we don’t want to hear, though… right, ladies?  And I can guess that’s why a video like this gets more likes and shares and more attention than a video of a sermon where actual Scripture is preached plainly and simply.  We want to feel good.  We want to be told that we’re worthy.  We want glory for ourselves.  But all glory belongs to God.  And we’re worthy because HE who is infinitely worthy shows us grace.  And we can feel good because we find ourselves in Him, resting in Him, trusting in Him. 

God is not about YOU.  God is about GOD.

And God is not my Giant Warm Fuzzy, present only when I have need of Him, at the ready to fawn all over me with sloppy wet kisses and words about how great I am in and of myself.  Boy, if He was, He would not be worth worshipping, folks, because He would be worshipping ME, and I totally suck, frankly speaking.  (And don’t think I have a self-esteem problem, y’all.  I have a sin problem.  It’s called being me, and I’m praising God that He has saved me from hell eternally and is daily continuing to save me from myself.)

I’m not sure why we’re inclined to get away from the truth of this, from the truth of Scripture.  Maybe because it’s hard?  A friend and I were recently looking at a passage where God was doing something “mean” and appeared to actually (gasp!) be someone other than the Giant Warm Fuzzy that we like to believe He is.  My friend leaned back in her chair, took a deep breath, and said, as she was looking straight at the Scripture, “I just don’t feel like this is who God is. I just don’t feel like He could be like this.”  Like Scripture says He is?  Like He says He is in His Word? 

We can’t know much about who God is or what God says or who God will still be in the future apart from what His Word tells us.  And when we bring in our feelings and elevate them above His Word, we say that He can change and that He MUST change to fit how I think HE should be.  And that’s nothing short of blasphemy.  God says plenty in His Word about Himself.  We don’t have to wonder at who He is.  He says it plainly.

And He says plenty of things about us as well, ladies.

Here’s what He says.  He says that we need a Savior.  (Luke 5:32) That on our own, we are incapable of saving ourselves.  (Romans 8:3)  That we are redeemed because HE is worthy, not because we are.  (Romans 5:6)  That ALL glory and ALL praise and ALL acclaim is His alone, and not ours. (Revelation 4:11) 

Why do we need to hear a man tell us that God thinks we’re beautiful… when God Himself has something exponentially more powerful, more profound, more eternal in His Word?

Know HIM.  Know who HE is.  Because that’s where you’ll find your real worth and value, ladies.